The temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of amorphous solids is markedly different from that of their crystalline counterparts, but exhibits universal behaviour. Sound attenuation is believed to be related to this universal behaviour. Recent computer simulations demonstrated that in the harmonic approximation sound attenuation $Gamma$ obeys quartic, Rayleigh scattering scaling for small wavevectors $k$ and quadratic scaling for wavevectors above the Ioffe-Regel limit. However, simulations and experiments do not provide a clear picture of what to expect at finite temperatures where anharmonic effects become relevant. Here we study sound attenuation at finite temperatures for model glasses of various stability, from unstable glasses that exhibit rapid aging to glasses whose stability is equal to those created in laboratory experiments. We find several scaling laws depending on the temperature and stability of the glass. First, we find the large wavevector quadratic scaling to be unchanged at all temperatures. Second, we find that at small wavectors $Gamma sim k^{1.5}$ for an aging glass, but $Gamma sim k^2$ when the glass does not age on the timescale of the calculation. For our most stable glass, we find that $Gamma sim k^2$ at small wavevectors, then a crossover to Rayleigh scattering scaling $Gamma sim k^4$, followed by another crossover to the quadratic scaling at large wavevectors. Our computational observation of this quadratic behavior reconciles simulation, theory and experiment, and will advance the understanding of the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity of glasses.
The paper presents a description of the sound wave absorption in glasses, from the lowest temperatures up to the glass transition, in terms of two compatible phenomenological models. Resonant tunneling, the rise of the relaxational tunneling to the tunneling plateau and the crossover to classical relaxation are universal features of glasses and are well described by the extension of the tunneling model to include soft vibrations and low barrier relaxations, the soft potential model. Its further extension to non-universal features at higher temperatures is the very flexible Gilroy-Phillips model, which allows to determine the barrier density of the energy landscape of the specific glass from the frequency and temperature dependence of the sound wave absorption in the classical relaxation domain. To apply it properly at elevated temperatures, one needs its formulation in terms of the shear compliance. As one approaches the glass transition, universality sets in again with an exponential rise of the barrier density reflecting the frozen fast Kohlrausch t^beta-tail (in time t, with beta close to 1/2) of the viscous flow at the glass temperature. The validity of the scheme is checked for literature data of several glasses and polymers with and without secondary relaxation peaks. The frozen Kohlrausch tail of the mechanical relaxation shows no indication of the strongly temperature-dependent excess wing observed in dielectric data of molecular glasses with hydrogen bonds. Instead, the mechanical relaxation data indicate an energy landscape describable with a frozen temperature-independent barrier density for any glass.
Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate mechanical properties and porous structure of binary glasses subjected to steady shear. The model vitreous systems were prepared via thermal quench at constant volume to a temperature well below the glass transition. The quiescent samples are characterized by a relatively narrow pore size distribution whose mean size is larger at lower glass densities. We find that in the linear regime of deformation, the shear modulus is a strong function of porosity, and the individual pores become slightly stretched while their structural topology remains unaffected. By contrast, with further increasing strain, the shear stress saturates to a density-dependent plateau value, which is accompanied by pore coalescence and a gradual development of a broader pore size distribution with a discrete set of peaks at large length scales.
Some facets of the way sound waves travel through glasses are still unclear. Recent works have shown that in the low-temperature harmonic limit a crucial role in controlling sound damping is played by local elastic heterogeneity. Sound waves propagation has been demonstrated to be strongly affected by inhomogeneous mechanical features of the materials, which add to the anharmonic couplings at finite temperatures. We describe the interplay between these two effects by molecular dynamics simulation of a model glass. In particular, we focus on the transverse components of the vibrational excitations in terms of dynamic structure factors, and characterize the temperature dependence of sound attenuation rates in an extended frequency range. We provide a complete picture of all phenomena, in terms encompassing both theory and experiments.
The precipitation of a glass forming solute from solution is modelled using a lattice model previously introduced to study dissolution kinetics of amorphous materials. The model includes the enhancement of kinetics at the surface of a glass in contact with a plasticizing solvent. We demonstrate that precipitation can produce a glass substantially more stable than that produced by very long time annealing of the bulk glass former. The energy of these ultra-stable amorphous precipitates is found to be dominated by residual solvent rather than high energy glass configurations.