Multiple Melting Temperatures in Glass-Forming Melts

All materials are vitrified by fast quenching even monoatomic substances. Second melting temperatures accompanied by weak exothermic or endothermic heat are often observed at T n+ after remelting them above the equilibrium thermodynamic melting transition at T m . These temperatures, T n+ , are due to the breaking of bonds (configurons formation) or antibonds depending on the thermal history, which is explained by using a nonclassical nucleation equation. Their multiple existence in monoatomic elements is now demonstrated by molecular dynamics simulations and still predicted. Proposed equations show that crystallization enthalpy is reduced at the temperature T x due to new vitrification of noncrystallized parts and their melting at T n+ . These glassy parts, being equal above T x to singular values or to their sum, are melted at various temperatures T n+ and attain 100% in Cu 46 Zr 46 Al 8 and 86.7% in bismuth. These first order transitions at T n+ are either reversible or irreversible, depending on the formation of super atoms, either solid or liquid.