Effect of mixing and spatial dimension on the glass transition

Abstract

We study the influence of composition changes on the glass transition of binary hard disc and hard sphere mixtures in the framework of mode coupling theory. We derive a general expression for the slope of a glass transition line. Applied to the binary mixture in the low concentration limits, this new method allows a fast prediction of some properties of the glass transition lines. The glass transition diagram we find for binary hard discs strongly resembles the random close packing diagram. Compared to 3D from previous studies, the extension of the glass regime due to mixing is much more pronounced in 2D where plasticization only sets in at larger size disparities. For small size disparities we find a stabilization of the glass phase quadratic in the deviation of the size disparity from unity.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Phys. Rev. E (in print