The discovery of ultrastable glasses raises novel challenges about glassy systems. Recent experiments studied the macroscopic devitrification of ultrastable glasses into liquids upon heating but lacked microscopic resolution. We use molecular dynamics simulations to analyze the kinetics of this transformation. In the most stable systems, devitrification occurs after a very large time, but the liquid emerges in two steps. At short times, we observe the rare nucleation and slow growth of isolated droplets containing a liquid maintained under pressure by the rigidity of the surrounding glass. At large times, pressure is released after the droplets coalesce into large domains, which accelerates devitrification. This two-step process produces pronounced deviations from the classical Avrami kinetics and explains the emergence of a giant lengthscale characterizing the devitrification of bulk ultrastable glasses. Our study elucidates the nonequilibrium kinetics of glasses following a large temperature jump, which differs from both equilibrium relaxation and aging dynamics, and will guide future experimental studies.
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Low-temperature nucleation anomaly in silicate glasses shown to be artifact in a 5BaO·8SiO2 glass
Abstract For over 40 years, measurements of the nucleation rates in a large number of silicate glasses have indicated a breakdown in the Classical Nucleation Theory at temperatures below that of the peak nucleation rate. The data show that instead of steadily decreasing with decreasing temperature, the work of critical cluster formation enters a plateau and even starts to increase. Many explanations have been offered to explain this anomaly, but none have provided a satisfactory answer. We present an experimental approach to demonstrate explicitly for the example of a 5BaO ∙ 8SiO 2 glass that the anomaly is not a real phenomenon, but instead an artifact arising from an insufficient heating time at low temperatures. Heating times much longer than previously used at a temperature 50 K below the peak nucleation rate temperature give results that are consistent with the predictions of the Classical Nucleation Theory. These results raise the question of whether the claimed anomaly is also an artifact in other glasses.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1720296
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10230347
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22161-9
