Fragility (glass physics)

Heard in 2 episodes across 1 show since Jun 2026

In glass science, fragility (or kinetic fragility) characterizes how rapidly the dynamics or viscosity of a glass-forming liquid slow down as it is cooled toward the glass transition temperature. Originally proposed by physical chemist C. Austen Angell, it classifies liquids on a spectrum from "strong" to "fragile" based on their deviation from Arrhenius behavior. This property is fundamental to understanding the structural relaxation and thermal properties of amorphous materials.