研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新的物質(zhì)狀態(tài):液態(tài)玻璃

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新的物質(zhì)狀態(tài):液態(tài)玻璃

Glass is truly a peculiar material. Despite being solid, its components are not organized in a nice crystalline structure like other solids. Its molecules get frozen in place before they can organize themselves into a crystal. The quest to understand glass has led researchers to discover a new state of matter: liquid glass.

玻璃確實是一種特殊的材料。盡管它是固體，但它的組成部分并不像其他固體那樣組織成漂亮的晶體結(jié)構(gòu)。它的分子在形成晶體之前會被凍結(jié)。為了了解玻璃，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新的物質(zhì)狀態(tài):液態(tài)玻璃。

Liquid glass was created with particles that were able to flow, but couldn’t rotate. As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this new state gives insight into how regular glass might form.

液態(tài)玻璃的顆粒可以流動，但不能旋轉(zhuǎn)。據(jù)《美國國家科學(xué)院院刊》報道，這種新的狀態(tài)讓我們了解普通玻璃是如何形成的。

Dr Alfredo Carpineti

The starting point of this investigation was the use of colloids, mixtures of “large” particles dispersed through a second substance. Gels and emulsions are examples of colloids. These substances can experience many phenomena that occur in glass-forming material, so they are a good proxy to study these glass transition.

這項研究的出發(fā)點是使用膠體，即分散在第二種物質(zhì)中的“大”顆粒混合物。凝膠和乳劑都是膠體的例子。這些物質(zhì)可以經(jīng)歷許多發(fā)生在玻璃化材料中的現(xiàn)象，因此它們是研究這些玻璃化轉(zhuǎn)變的很好的替代物。

The team involved in this research decided to attempt something different than previous studies. Instead of using spherical particles in their colloid, they manufactured special elliptical (egg-shaped) particles. By changing the concentration of these in the mixtures, they discovered the unusual liquid glass behavior.

參與這項研究的團隊決定嘗試一些不同于以往研究的東西。他們沒有在膠體中使用球形粒子，而是制造了特殊的橢圓(蛋形)粒子。通過改變這些混合物的濃度，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種不尋常的液體玻璃行為。

"Due to their distinct shapes our particles have orientation – as opposed to spherical particles – which gives rise to entirely new and previously unstudied kinds of complex behaviors," senior author Professor Andreas Zumbusch, from the University of Konstanz, said in a statement. "At certain particle densities orientational motion froze whereas translational motion persisted, resulting in glassy states where the particles clustered to form local structures with similar orientation."

康斯坦茨大學(xué)的資深作者安德烈亞斯·祖姆布施教授在一份聲明中說:“由于它們獨特的形狀，我們的粒子具有方向性——與球形粒子不同——這就產(chǎn)生了全新的、以前從未研究過的復(fù)雜行為。”“在特定的粒子密度下，定向運動凍結(jié)，而平移運動持續(xù)，導(dǎo)致粒子聚集形成具有相似取向的局部結(jié)構(gòu)的玻璃態(tài)。”

The position and orientation of the ellipsoid particles in the liquid glass. Research groups of Professor Andreas Zumbusch and Professor Matthias Fuchs

What the researchers saw in this particular substance were two competing glass transitions. One was a regular phase transformation, which is reversible. The other was a non-equilibrium one, which is irreversible. This combination might be what produces the peculiar properties of glass.

研究人員在這種特殊物質(zhì)中看到了兩種相互競爭的玻璃轉(zhuǎn)變。一個是正常的相變，可逆的相變。另一個是非平衡的，是不可逆的。這種組合可能是產(chǎn)生玻璃的特殊特性的原因。

"This is incredibly interesting from a theoretical vantage point," says Dr Matthias Fuchs, professor of soft condensed matter theory at the University of Konstanz and the other senior author on the paper. "Our experiments provide the kind of evidence for the interplay between critical fluctuations and glassy arrest that the scientific community has been after for quite some time."

康斯坦茨大學(xué)軟凝聚態(tài)理論教授Matthias Fuchs博士說:“從理論的角度來看，這非常有趣。”他也是這篇論文的另一位資深作者。“我們的實驗為臨界波動和玻璃阻滯之間的相互作用提供了證據(jù)，這是科學(xué)界一直在研究的問題。”

Understanding glass is not just about the material that makes our windows. A wide range of materials behave like glass, including plastics and metals, as well as organic substances such as proteins and even biological cells.

理解玻璃不僅僅是關(guān)于制造窗戶的材料。很多材料的性能都像玻璃，包括塑料和金屬，還有有機物質(zhì)，如蛋白質(zhì)，甚至生物細(xì)胞。

Theoretical investigations of liquid glass have been going on for two decades. This first result will have a long-reaching effect in the field of material science.

對液態(tài)玻璃的理論研究已經(jīng)進行了20多年。這第一個結(jié)果將在材料科學(xué)領(lǐng)域產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的影響。