Dielectric study of supercooled triphenylphosphite and butyronitrile

Abstract

Dielectric relaxation has been studied in the supercooled liquids triphenylphosphite (TPP) and butyrontrile (BN). BN is relatively strong according to Angell's classification and can be characterized by a fragility index m = 47. TPP, on the other hand, appears to be the most fragile non-polymeric liquid studied so far (m = 160). The dielectric response of the two glass-formers exhibits different degrees of non-exponentiality which is analyzed in terms of a mesoscopic model of dynamically correlated domains. The relation of this model to the strong versus fragile liquid classification scheme is discussed.