Similarities and Differences between the Glass Forming Mechanism in Polymers and Metallic Liquids

Survey of categorization of glass forming mechanisms in liquids based on the known principles reported in the literature is given. The metallic glass-forming liquids can be divided into two types – strong (with high glass forming ability) and fragile (with low glass forming ability). While the bulk amorphous alloys formed from strong liquids do not exhibit sensitivity to low temperature relaxation near as well as below room temperature, the glasses formed from fragile liquids contain mobile “hot points” that are active during low temperature or thermo-elastic treatments. Based on this interpretation, the structural imprints induced by treatments at liquid nitrogen (LN) temperature as well as by the absorption of hydrogen (H-absorption) are explained.