Ergodicity breaking of an inorganic glass in aging near ${T_g}$ probed by elasticity relaxation

Abstract

We performed a series of aging experiments of an inorganic glass (As${_2}$Se${_3}$) at a temperature ${T_2}$ near the glass transition point ${T_g}$ by first relaxing it at ${T_1}$. The relaxation of Young's modulus was monitored, which was(almost if not ideally) exponential with a ${T_1}$-dependent relaxation time ${\tau(T_1)}$. We demostrate the Kovacs' paradox for the first time in an inorganic glasses. Associated with the divergence of ${\tau}$, the quasi-equilibrated Young's modulus ${E_\infty}$ does not converge either. An elastic model of relaxation time and a Mori-Tanaka analysis of ${E_\infty}$ lead to a similar estimate of the persistent memory of the history, ergodicity breaking within the accessible experimental time. Experiments with different ${T_2}$ exhibits a critical temperature ${T_p \sim T_g}$, i.e., when ${T_2 > T_p}$, both ${\tau}$ and ${E_\infty}$ converge.