Controlling fragility via geometry in hard particle glass-formers

ORAL

Abstract

We demonstrate that fragility, a technologically relevant measure of glass-forming ability, may be tuned via slight changes to particle shape in monodisperse, super-compressed systems of hard particles. We simulate systems of tetrahedrally symmetric particles, interacting solely through volume exclusion via Monte Carlo sampling, and show that these glass-formers become stronger as the particle shape becomes increasingly tetrahedral. Moreover, we connect strength and local structure in these systems. Our results parallel similar findings for network glass-formers such as silica, in which short-range tetrahedral bonding yields glasses of exceptional strength, and we show that similar effects can arise from geometry alone.

*E.G.T acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Grant DGE 1256260 and a Blue Waters Graduate Fellowship.

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Presenters

  • Erin Teich

    • University of Pennsylvania
    • University of Michigan
    • Applied Physics, University of Michigan
    • Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan

Authors

  • Erin Teich

    • University of Pennsylvania
    • University of Michigan
    • Applied Physics, University of Michigan
    • Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan

  • Greg Van Anders

    • Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy, Queen's University
    • Queen's University
    • Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
    • Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy, Queen's University
    • Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
    • University of Michigan

  • Sharon Glotzer

    • University of Michigan
    • Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan
    • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI