Strong and fragile liquids in percolation approach to the glass transition

V.N. Novikov; E. Rössler; V.K. Malinovsky; N.V. Surovtsev

doi:doi:10.1209/epl/i1996-00568-7

Strong and fragile liquids in percolation approach to the glass transition DOI: 10.1209/epl/i1996-00568-7

Europhys. Lett, 35 (4), pp. 289-294 (1996)

Strong and fragile liquids in percolation approach to the glass transition

V. N. Novikov , E. Rössler , V. K. Malinovsky and N. V. Surovtsev

IA& E, Russian Academy of Sciences - Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Physikalische Institut, Universität Bayreuth - 95440 Bayreuth, Germany

(received 15 January 1996; accepted in final form 17 June 1996)

PACS. 64.70-p - Phase equilibria, phase transitions, and critical points of specific substances.

Abstract:

Liquid- and solid-like particles in a glass are defined via the Lindemann criterion of melting. Due to structure inhomogeneity the amplitude of the mean-square thermal atomic displacements

varies spatially. This situation defines a percolation problem for liquid- and solid-like clusters. There are two percolation thresholds: the first corresponds to the temperature

at which the first infinite cluster of liquid-like particles appears. The second threshold

corresponds to a point at which the last infinite cluster of solid-like particles disappears. In the 3D case

holds. We argue that this interval is relatively broader in strong glass-formers in comparison with fragile ones; this means that the spatial distribution of

and, respectively, of the elastic constants is broader in the former case than in the latter one. Comparison with neutron experimental data on

shows that numerically

is close to the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann temperature

and

is close to the critical temperature

defined within mode coupling theory.