Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “GLASS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,765 records · Page 98Linked to original sources

Slow dynamics near glass transitions in thin polymer films.

The alpha process (segmental motion) of thin polystyrene films supported on glass substrate has been investigated in a wider frequency range from 10(-3) Hz to 10(4) Hz using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and thermal expansion spectroscopy. The relaxation rate of the alpha process increases with decreasing film thickness at a given temperature above the glass transition. This increase in the relaxation rate with decreasing film thickness is much more enhanced near the glass transition temperature. The glass transition temperature determined as the temperature at which the relaxation time of the alpha process becomes a macroscopic time scale shows a distinct molecular weight dependence. It is also found that the Vogel temperature has a thickness dependence, i.e., the Vogel temperature decreases with decreasing film thickness. The expansion coefficient of the free volume alpha(f) is extracted from the temperature dependence of the relaxation time within the free volume theory. The fragility index m is also evaluated as a function of thickness. Both alpha(f) and m are found to decrease with decreasing film thickness.

Journal Article↗

Apparent nonergodic behavior of supercooled liquids above the glass transition temperature.

A speckle pattern can be observed in the polarized component of light scattered from glass forming liquids far above their glass transition temperature. This speckle pattern fluctuates with characteristic time that corresponds to the relaxation time of the additional ultraslow component in the correlation function and is about seven orders of magnitude longer than the relaxation time of the alpha-process. This slow process is out of the experimental time window when the alpha-process is measured by means of the photon correlation spectroscopy and results in an apparent nonergodicity which can be seen as a baseline offset in the ensemble-averaged correlation function. In contrast, the time-averaged field correlation functions which have been measured in practically all light scattering studies always decay to zero. The slow process contributes a q-dependent excess intensity to the polarized component of scattered light. The values of the nonergodicity parameters obtained from the static and dynamic light scattering experiments are equal. Both the slow component and the excess intensity result from denser regions of fractal character which develop in glass-forming liquids on approaching the glass transition.

Journal Article↗

Piezoelectricity of a ferroelectric liquid crystal with a glass transition.

Pressure-electric (hydrostatic piezoelectric) measurements are reported on bookshelf textures of a ferroelectric smectic-C (Sm C*) liquid crystal with a glass transition. The continuous variation of a partially fluid state to the solid glass enables one to trace how the piezoelectric effect depends on the consistency of the material. It was observed that in the Sm C* samples with poled glass the piezoelectric constants are comparable to conventional piezoelectric crystals and poled piezoelectric polymers. This implies their application possibilities. The magnitude of the piezoelectric constant in the glassy state depends very much on the poling conditions. The studies indicate that there are two counteracting effects, which cancel each other out in the Sm C* phase near the glass transition. Our analysis indicates that the pressure-induced director tilt change has a dominating effect both in the fluid and the glassy Sm C* states.

Journal Article↗

Experimental studies of the ortho-toluidine glass transition.

The thermodynamic and dynamics proprieties of ortho-toluidine, in the vicinity of a glass transition, have been studied by calorimetric and by two light scattering techniques, depolarized light scattering and time-resolved optical Kerr effect. Differential scanning microcalorimetry clearly detects a glass transition in o-toluidine and it measures some thermodynamics critical parameters, in particular, the transition temperature. The light scattering data have been analyzed according to the mode-coupling theory. This theory gives a good interpretation of our data and it allows to extract safely the critical parameters of the o-toluidine dynamics. We found a fair agreement between the analysis outputs performed in the frequency domain and in the time domain. Finally, we compared the glass transition features of o-toluidine with that of its isomer meta-toluidine, looking for some general idea about the molecular aspects of the glass transition.

Journal Article↗

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy study of molecular dynamics in the glass-forming liquid crystal isopentylcyanobiphenyl dispersed with aerosils.

The glass-forming liquid crystal isopentylcyanobiphenyl (CB15) filled with different concentrations of hydrophilic and hydrophobic aerosils has been investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy in the frequency range from 10(-2) Hz to 10(7) Hz over a temperature range of 173 K-300 K. CB15 that consists of chiral molecules has a monotropic system of phases nematic (N*) and smectic-A upon supercooling and forms a glass further on. In the isotropic phase a single Davidson-Cole process exists in the substance, which is due to the rotation of the molecules around their short axes. In the supercooled N* phase a Cole-Cole process that is an order of magnitude faster is additionally present and is due to the rotation in a cone around the local director. The relaxation times of the process due to rotation around short axes obey the empirical Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman behavior typical for glass-forming systems. Filling of the liquid crystal (LC) with different concentrations of hydrophilic aerosils leads to the emergence of a slow relaxation process that grows with the increasing concentration of the aerosils. The aerosil particles, which form a three-dimensional network dividing the LC phase into domains, have little effect on the relaxation times of the bulk processes. As a consequence the glass transition temperature is merely affected. On the other hand, in LCs dispersed with hydrophobic aerosils the slow process is quite weak. The slow process is attributed to the relaxation of the molecules that are homeotropically attached at the surfaces of the aerosil particles. The LC-aerosil surface interaction leads to a considerable slowing down of the molecular rotation around their short axis. The process has an Arrhenius-like temperature dependence of the relaxation times with an activated type of dynamics, which can be explained by considering a nonincreasing rearranging region of cooperativity in surface layers.

Journal Article↗

Microscopic theory of glassy dynamics and glass transition for molecular crystals.

We derive a microscopic equation of motion for the dynamical orientational correlators of molecular crystals. Our approach is based upon mode coupling theory. Compared to liquids we find four main differences: (i) the memory kernel contains Umklapp processes if the total momentum of two orientational modes is outside the first Brillouin zone, (ii) besides the static two-molecule orientational correlators one also needs the static one-molecule orientational density as an input, where the latter is nontrivial due to the crystal's anisotropy, (iii) the static orientational current density correlator does contribute an anisotropic, inertia-independent part to the memory kernel, and (iv) if the molecules are assumed to be fixed on a rigid lattice, the tensorial orientational correlators and the memory kernel have vanishing l,l(') = 0 components, due to the absence of translational motion. The resulting mode coupling equations are solved for hard ellipsoids of revolution on a rigid sc lattice. Using the static orientational correlators from Percus-Yevick theory we find an ideal glass transition generated due to precursors of orientational order which depend on X(0) and psi, the aspect ratio and packing fraction of the ellipsoids. The glass formation of oblate ellipsoids is enhanced compared to that for prolate ones. For oblate ellipsoids with X(0) < or = 0.7 and prolate ellipsoids with X(0) < or = 4, the critical diagonal nonergodicity parameters in reciprocal space exhibit more or less sharp maxima at the zone center with very small values elsewhere, while for prolate ellipsoids with 2 < or = X(0) < or = 2.5 we have maxima at the zone edge. The off-diagonal nonergodicity parameters are not restricted to positive values and show similar behavior. For 0.7 < or = X(0) < or = 2, no glass transition is found because of too small static orientational correlators. In the glass phase, the nonergodicity parameters show a much more pronounced q dependence.

Journal Article↗

Random isotropic structures and possible glass transitions in diblock copolymer melts.

We study the microstructural glass transition in diblock-copolymer melts using a thermodynamic replica approach. Our approach performs an expansion in terms of the natural smallness parameter--the inverse of the scaled degree of polymerization N--which allows us to systematically study the approach to mean-field behavior as the degree of polymerization increases. We find that in the limit of infinite chain length, both the onset of glassiness and the vitrification transition (Kauzmann temperature) collapse to the mean-field spinodal, suggesting that the spinodal can be regarded as the mean-field signature for glass transitions in this class of microphase-separating system. We also study the order-disorder transition (ODT) within the same theoretical framework; in particular, we include the leading-order fluctuation corrections due to the cubic interaction in the coarse-grained Hamiltonian, which has been ignored in previous studies of the ODT in block copolymers. We find that the cubic term stabilizes both the ordered (body-centered-cubic) phase and the glassy state relative to the disordered phase. In melts of symmetric copolymers the glass transition always occurs after the order-disorder transition (below the ODT temperature), but for asymmetric copolymers, it is possible for the glass transition to precede the ordering transition.

Journal Article↗

Transitions among crystal, glass, and liquid in a binary mixture with changing particle-size ratio and temperature.

Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine changeovers among crystal, glass, and liquid at high density in a two dimensional binary mixture. We change the ratio between the diameters of the two components and the temperature. The transitions from crystal to glass or liquid occur with proliferation of defects. We visualize the defects in terms of a disorder variable Dj(t) representing a deviation from the hexagonal order for particle j. The defect structures are heterogeneous and are particularly extended in polycrystal states. They look similar at the crystal-glass crossover and at the melting. Taking the average of Dj(t) over the particles, we define a disorder parameter D(t), which measures the degree of overall disorder. The relaxation of D(t) after quenching becomes slow at low temperature in the presence of size dispersity. Its steady state average is small in crystal and large in glass and liquid. We also find that grain boundaries tend to be pinned with increasing size dispersity in polycrystal states.

Journal Article↗

Role of structural relaxations and vibrational excitations in the high-frequency dynamics of liquids and glasses.

We present theoretical investigation on the high-frequency collective dynamics in liquids and glasses at microscopic length scales and in the terahertz frequency region based on the mode-coupling theory for ideal liquid-glass transition. We focus on recently investigated issues from inelastic-x-ray-scattering and computer-simulation studies for dynamic structure factors and longitudinal and transversal current spectra: the anomalous dispersion of the high-frequency sound velocity and the nature of the low-frequency excitation called the boson peak. It will be discussed how the sound mode interferes with other low-lying modes present in the system. Thereby, we provide a systematic explanation of the anomalous sound-velocity dispersion in systems--ranging from high temperature liquid down to deep inside the glass state--in terms of the contributions from the structural-relaxation processes and from vibrational excitations called the anomalous-oscillation peak (AOP). A possibility of observing negative dispersion--the decrease of the sound velocity upon increase of the wave number--is argued when the sound-velocity dispersion is dominated by the contribution from the vibrational dynamics. We also show that the low-frequency excitation, observable in both of the glass-state longitudinal and transversal current spectra at the same resonance frequency, is the manifestation of the AOP. As a consequence of the presence of the AOP in the transversal current spectra, it is predicted that the transversal sound velocity also exhibits the anomalous dispersion. These results of the theory are demonstrated for a model of the Lennard-Jones system.

Journal Article↗

Microstructure controlled shear band pattern formation and enhanced plasticity of bulk metallic glasses containing in situ formed ductile phase dendrite dispersions

Results are presented for a ductile metal reinforced bulk metallic glass matrix composite based on glass forming compositions in the Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be system. Primary dendrite growth and solute partitioning in the molten state yields a microstructure consisting of a ductile crystalline Ti-Zr-Nb beta phase, with bcc structure, in a Zr-Ti-Nb-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glass matrix. Under unconstrained mechanical loading organized shear band patterns develop throughout the sample. This results in a dramatic increase in the plastic strain to failure, impact resistance, and toughness of the metallic glass.

Journal Article↗

Abrupt change of josephson plasma frequency at the phase boundary of the bragg glass in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta)

We report the first detailed and quantitative study of the Josephson coupling energy in the vortex liquid, Bragg glass, and vortex glass phases of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) by the Josephson plasma resonance. The measurements revealed distinct features in the T and H dependencies of the plasma frequency omega(pl) for each of these three vortex phases. When going across either the Bragg-to-vortex glass or the Bragg-to-liquid transition line, omega(pl) shows a dramatic change. We provide a quantitative discussion on the properties of these phase transitions, including the first order nature of the Bragg-to-vortex glass transition.

Journal Article↗

Liquid limits: glass transition and liquid-gas spinodal boundaries of metastable liquids.

The liquid-gas spinodal and the glass transition define ultimate boundaries beyond which substances cannot exist as (stable or metastable) liquids. The relation between these limits is analyzed via computer simulations of a model liquid. The results obtained indicate that the liquid-gas spinodal and the glass transition lines intersect at a finite temperature, implying a glass-gas mechanical instability locus at low temperatures. The glass transition lines obtained by thermodynamic and dynamic criteria agree very well with each other.

Journal Article↗

Mean field theory of a quantum heisenberg spin glass

A full mean-field solution of a quantum Heisenberg spin-glass model is presented in a large- N limit. A spin-glass transition is found for all values of the spin S. The quantum critical regime associated with the quantum transition at S = 0 and the various regimes in the spin-glass phase at high spin are analyzed. The specific heat is shown to vanish linearly with temperature. In the spin-glass phase, intriguing connections between the equilibrium properties of the quantum problem and the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of classical models are pointed out.

Journal Article↗

Zero-temperature responses of a 3D spin glass in a magnetic field.

We probe the energy landscape of the 3D Edwards-Anderson spin glass in a magnetic field to test for a spin glass ordering. We find that the spin glass susceptibility is anomalously large on the lattice sizes we can reach. Our data suggest that a transition from the spin glass to the paramagnetic phase takes place at B(c) approximately 0.65, though the possibility B(c) = 0 cannot be excluded. We also discuss the question of the nature of the putative frozen phase.

Journal Article↗

Phase glass is a Bose metal: a new conducting state in two dimensions.

In the quantum rotor model with random exchange interactions having a nonzero mean, three phases, a (i) phase (Bose) glass, (ii) superfluid, and (iii) Mott insulator, meet at a bicritical point. We demonstrate that proximity to the bicritical point and the coupling between the energy landscape and the dissipative degrees of freedom of the phase glass lead to a metallic state at T = 0. Consequently, the phase glass is unique in that it represents a concrete example of a metallic state that is mediated by disorder, even in 2D. We propose that the experimentally observed metallic phase which intervenes between the insulator and the superconductor in a wide range of thin films is in actuality a phase glass.

Journal Article↗

Reentrant spin glass behavior in Cr-doped perovskite manganite.

The magnetic and transport properties of the Cr-doped manganites La(0.46)Sr(0.54)Mn(1-y)Cr(y)O3 ( 0 < or = y < or = 0.08) with the A-type antiferromagnetic structure were investigated. Upon cooling, we find multiple magnetic phase transitions, i.e., paramagnetic, ferromagnetic (FM), antiferromagnetic (AFM), and spin glass in the y = 0.02 sample. The low temperature spin glass state is not a conventional spin glass with randomly oriented magnetic moments but has a reentrant character. The reentrant spin glass behavior accompanied by the anomalous multiple magnetic transitions might be due to the competing interactions between the FM phase and the A-type AFM matrix induced by the random Cr impurity.

Journal Article↗

Viscous behavior in a quasi-1D fractal cluster glass.

The spin glass transition of a quasi-1D organic-based magnet ([MnTPP][TCNE]) is explored using both ac and dc measurements. A scaling analysis of the ac susceptibility shows a spin glass transition near 4 K, with a viscous decay of the thermoremanent magnetization recorded above 4 K. We propose an extension to a fractal cluster model of spin glasses that determines the dimension of the spin clusters (D) ranging from approximately 0.8 to over 1.5 as the glass transition is approached. Long-range dipolar interactions are suggested as the origin of this low value for the apparent lower critical dimension.

Journal Article↗

Absence of an equilibrium ferromagnetic spin-glass phase in three dimensions.

Using ground state computations, we study the transition from a spin glass to a ferromagnet in 3D spin glasses when changing the mean value of the spin-spin interaction. We find good evidence for replica symmetry breaking up until the critical value where ferromagnetic ordering sets in, and no ferromagnetic spin glass phase. This phase diagram is in conflict with the droplet/scaling and mean field theories of spin glasses. We also find that the exponents of the second order ferromagnetic transition do not depend on the microscopic Hamiltonian, suggesting universality of this transition.

Journal Article↗