Discrepancy of structural stability against temperature between metallic liquids and their glasses

Abstract The stability of the disordered structure in liquid or glass states could be characterized by the glass-forming ability (GFA) and thermal stability (TS), respectively. The two quantities are often, but not always, positively correlated. Here we show that the discrepancy between GFA and TS originates from the competition between entropy and enthalpy which fairly much relies on local structural characteristics. This inherent interaction and competition determines hierarchy of phase stability against temperature. As a result, the time susceptibility of GFA and temperature susceptibility of TS were derived from the time–temperature–transformation diagram, which are coincided with the above mentioned entropy–enthalpy competition perspective. Thus, the interrelationship among entropy, enthalpy and local cluster feature provides a potential resolution to design and optimize glass formers, and have implications for better understanding the nature of glass transition.