Thermodynamics: Useful Tool For Glass (In French)

This article reviews a few applications of thermodynamics to silicate glasses and melts. Vitrification is first described as an irreversible transformation through which internal equilibrium is lost. After having introduced relaxation, it is shown how thermal expansion coefficients of supercooled liquids can be determined. The configurational heat capacity and entropy are then presented and used to model the liquid viscosities. Finally, the relevance of configurational entropy to glass stability and phase diagram calculations is briefly discussed.