Dynamical scaling analysis using the Lillie Number for vitrification of deeply supercooled glycerol

Abstract Thermal response was measured for a deeply supercooled glycerol specimen by applying calorimetric temperature scanning rate spectroscopy, cooling the specimen from liquid at a slow constant cooling rate until glass transition was observed. The effective fraction of glass as a function of temperature was determined and a new definition of glass transition temperature, T gC , as the temperature at which the effective glass fraction to be 0.5 was presented. The relation between this and the cooling rate showed the Arrhenius behavior. The effective glass fraction curves shifted linearly as a function of ln(cooling rate). When T was scaled to the Lillie Number, the glass fraction lay on a master curve, which was successfully fitted with a Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts function. The Kohlrausch exponent, the relaxation time as a function of temperature and the kinetic fragility index were determined. The results were compared with literature values.