| Abstract Scope |
Fast scanning calorimetry (FSC) has recently emerged as a novel technique for studying the freezing process in glass forming liquids in an unprecedentedly large range of cooling rates and frequency. For bulk metallic glass-forming alloys, FSC-investigations have demonstrated that the atomic dynamics in the deeply undercooled liquid are heterogeneous and involve relaxation processes that are faster than the structural α-relaxation, reflecting their multicomponent nature [1]. Here, we report upon an attempt to reduce gradually the length scale of the sample confinement to study the shift of the glass transition temperature (Tg) during vitrification to lower temperatures, i.e., a more pronounced Tg-reduction with respect to that observed in the bulk material. The results are compared to the α-relaxation process, which remains size independent.
[1] X. Monnier, D. Cangialosi, B. Ruta, R. Busch, I. Gallino, Vitrification decoupling from α-relaxation in a metallic glass. Sci. Adv.6, eaay1454 (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay1454 |