title: Molecular engineering of the glass transition: glass-forming ability across a homologous series of cyclic stilbenes.
abstract: We report on the glass-forming abilities of the homologous series 1,2-diphenylcyclo-butene, pentene, hexene and heptene-a series that retains the cis-phenyl configuration characteristic of the well-studied glass former, o-terphenyl. We find that the glass-forming ability shows a sharp maximum for the six-membered ring and demonstrate that this trend in glass-forming ability is a consequence of a maximum, for the 1,2-diphenylcyclohexene, of the reduced glass transition temperature T(g)/T(m). Since the nonmonotonic trend in T(g)/T(m) is entirely due to variations in T(m), we conclude that the design target for maximizing the glass-forming ability across an homologous series should focus on the crystal stability and the factors that determine it.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P R China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ping
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paraska
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harrowell
authors.forename: C Austen
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Angell