Structure changes in glassforming liquids upon cooling and compression.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Physical Chemistry
• Condensed Matter Physics

Background:

• Glassforming liquids exhibit complex thermodynamic and kinetic behaviors upon cooling and compression.
• Fragile glassformers, in particular, show property changes that are indicative of alterations in their local liquid structure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose criteria for identifying structural changes in glassformers.
• To relate thermodynamic data to these structural changes.
• To analyze the impact of temperature and pressure variations on local liquid structure.

Main Methods:

• Development of special criteria for structure changes based on energy and pressure fluctuations in isochoric systems.
• Utilizing recent theoretical results to express these criteria in terms of thermodynamic characteristics.
• Discussion of structural changes using the proposed criteria.

Main Results:

• Thermodynamic data can serve as a quantitative measure of structural changes in glassforming liquids.
• Proposed criteria allow for the assessment of structure changes.
• Theoretical advancements enable the rewriting of criteria using thermodynamic properties.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a framework for understanding and quantifying structural changes in glassformers.
• Thermodynamic characteristics offer insights into the local structure of liquids under varying conditions.
• The proposed criteria facilitate the analysis of temperature and pressure effects on liquid structure.