Glass phase and other multiple liquid-to-liquid transitions resulting from two liquid phase competition

TL;DR

This paper investigates multiple liquid-to-liquid transitions in supercooled melts caused by competition between two liquid phases, using thermodynamic measurements and a modified nucleation model to predict transitions in metallic glasses.

Contribution

It introduces a two-liquid phase model incorporating enthalpy differences and hysteresis, advancing understanding of glass formation and liquid phase competition.

Findings

Viscosity, density, and surface tension show hysteresis below a branching temperature.

A modified nucleation equation accounts for enthalpy savings at all temperatures.

Predictions of liquid-to-liquid transitions in metallic glasses are validated.

Abstract

Melt supercooling leads to glass formation. Liquid-to-liquid phase transitions are observed depending on thermal paths. Viscosity, density and surface tension thermal dependences measured at heating and subsequent cooling show hysteresis below a branching temperature and result from the competition of two-liquid phases separated by an enthalpy difference depending on temperature. The nucleation classical equation of these phases is completed by this enthalpy saving existing at all temperatures. The glass phase thermodynamic parameters and their thermal variation have already been determined in such a two-liquid model. They are used at high temperatures to predict liquid-to-liquid transitions in some metallic glass-forming melts.