Vapor-Deposited Ethylbenzene Glasses Approach “Ideal Glass” Density

Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to characterize vapor-deposited glasses of ethylbenzene (Tg = 115.7 K). For this system, previous calorimetric experiments have established that a transition to the ideal glass state is expected to occur near 101 K (the Kauzmann temperature, TK) if the low-temperature supercooled liquid has the properties expected based upon extrapolation from above Tg. Ethylbenzene glasses were vapor-deposited at substrate temperatures between 100 (∼0.86 Tg) and 116 K (∼Tg), using deposition rates of 0.02–2.1 nm/s. Down to 103 K, glasses prepared in the limit of low deposition rate have densities consistent with the extrapolated supercooled liquid. The highest density glass is within 0.15% of the density expected for the ideal glass. These results support the hypothesis that the extrapolated properties of supercooled ethylbenzene are correct to within just a few Kelvin of TK, consistent with the existence of a phase transition to an ideal glass state at TK.