Thermodynamic and dynamic fragility in metallic glass-formers

Abstract This paper focuses on the study of glasses using models of thermodynamic and transport properties (e.g. heat capacity, viscosity and liquid fragility) for various alloys in comparison with organic and inorganic substances. The work attempts to identify possible correlations and trends in these properties which can relate to indicators of melt fragility for metallic glasses. The ratio of the specific heat integral between selected temperatures gives only a rough indication of the fragility behaviour. More insight is gained by considering the thermodynamic fragility index derived from the potential energy landscape model having either a hyperbolic or Gaussian distribution of energy minima. The Wang–Angell–Richert correlation holds for some metallic glasses. Deviations from it help in identifying hidden transitions in the liquid state.