αrelaxation of a simple molten salt near the glass transition

Abstract

Predictions of mode-coupling theory for a schematic model of molten salts are shown to be consistent with recent neutron spin-echo experiments on ${\mathrm{K}}_{0.6}$ ${\mathrm{Ca}}_{0.4}$(${\mathrm{NO}}_3$ ${)}_{1.4}$. The theory relates the strong increase of viscosity fitted by η∝(T-${\mathrm{T}}_0$ ${)}^{\mathrm{-}\gamma }$ to the slow time decay of density fluctuations predicting a scaling function f(t/τ) with τ∝η. For t≳τ, f(t/τ) is well represented by exp[-(t/τ${)}^{\mathrm{\beta }}$] with β=0.56 in good agreement with experiment.