Thermodynamic study of simple molecular glasses: universal features in their heat capacity and the size of the cooperatively rearranging regions.

We have obtained some universal thermodynamic properties on glass transitions of molecular liquids. The heat capacity C(p) of glassy propene, which was vitrified by using a vapor-deposition technique, was measured with a newly developed adiabatic calorimeter. Propene has the lowest glass transition temperature (T(g)=56 K), the largest C(p) jump at T(g) (C(p)(lq)/C(p)(gl)~2.5), and the lowest residual entropy (S(res)~Rln2) compared with glass-forming molecules measured before. We have analyzed the present data with other hydrocarbon molecules vitrified by liquid quenching and obtained the following results: (1) The excess heat capacities are scaled well by using a Kauzmann temperature T(K), (2) The size of the cooperative rearrangement region (CRR) frozen at T(g) increases with decreasing the temperature difference between T(g) and T(K) (Kauzmann temperature), and (3) The simpler the molecule is, the larger the frozen CRR becomes. These are all supporting the validity of the Adam-Gibbs theory.