Thermal conductivity of glassy primary mono-hydroxylalcohols

• Published in: Journal of non-crystalline solids Vol. 357; no. 2; pp. 483 - 486
• Main Authors: Krivchikov, A.I., Korolyuk, O.A., Sharapova, I.V., Romantsova, О.О., Bermejo, F.J., Cabrillo, C., Fernandez-Perea, R., Bustinduy, I.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 15-01-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acoustic coupling; Alcohols; Carbon; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Ethyl alcohol; Exact sciences and technology; Glass transitions; Glasses (including metallic glasses); Heat transfer; Low-frequency quasilocal modes; Materials science; Mathematical models; Methyl alcohol; Molecular glass; Physics; Soft potential model; Specific materials; Specific phase transitions; Thermal conductivity; Thermal properties of amorphous solids and glasses : heat capacity, thermal expansion; Thermal properties of condensed matter; Thermal conductivity; Soft potential model; Molecular glass; Low-frequency quasilocal modes; Temperature dependence; Ethanol; Two-level systems; Thermogravimetry; Glass; Carbon; Molecular weight; Alcohols; Glass transition; Phenomenological model; Boson peak; Model potential; Vitreous state; Stretching; Localized modes; Methanol
• ISSN: 0022-3093; 1873-4812
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2010.06.046

Thermal conductivity κ(T) data for homologous series of primary mono-hydric alcohols – methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol – within their molecular glass states are analyzed within the temperature region stretching from 2
K up to the glass transition T
g. Below 7
K κ(T) increases with the number of carbon atoms in the molecule. Furthermore, its temperature dependence exhibits a behavior akin to that predicted by the phenomenological model of soft potentials (SPM). The data are then rationalized in terms of the SPM parameters such as characteristic energy
W and the parameter ¯
С which measures the strength of the coupling of acoustic modes with two-level systems. The dependence of such parameters upon the molecular mass of the alcohol seems to agree with the SPM predictions. The parameters ¯
С and
W were used to calculate the boson peak energies. The values obtained agree well with literature data.