Fast vs slow physical aging of a glass forming liquid

Ranko Richert; Jan P Gabriel

doi:10.1063/5.0167766

Fast vs slow physical aging of a glass forming liquid

J Chem Phys. 2023 Aug 28;159(8):084504. doi: 10.1063/5.0167766.

Authors

Ranko Richert¹, Jan P Gabriel²

Affiliations

¹ School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
² Glass and Time, IMFUFA, Department of Science and Environment, Roskilde University, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.

PMID: 37638621
DOI: 10.1063/5.0167766

Abstract

Using electric fields to initiate the process of physical aging has facilitated measurements of structural recovery dynamics on the time scale of milliseconds. This, however, complicates the interesting comparison with aging processes due to a temperature jump, as these are significantly slower. This study takes a step toward comparing the results of field and temperature perturbations by providing data on field-induced structural recovery of vinyl ethylene carbonate at two different time scales: 1.0 ms at 181 K and 33 s at 169 K, i.e., 4.5 decades apart. It is found that structural recovery is a factor of two slower than structural relaxation in equilibrium, with the latter determined via dielectric relaxation in the limit of linear response. The relation between recovery and relaxation dynamics remains temperature invariant across the present experimental range.