Physical Limit of Stability in Supercooled Liquids

The kinetic spinodal (KS) in supercooled liquids, similar to the KS in superheated and stretched liquids, has been introduced as a locus where the mean time of formation of a critical nucleus becomes shorter than a relaxation time to local equilibrium. If the surface tension of the solid–liquid iInterface is known, the kinetic spinodal is completely determined by the equation of state of the supercooled liquid. The theory was tested against experimental data for the surface tension and the homogeneous nucleation limit for supercooled water. Reasonably good agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data was observed. A prediction of the high-temperature limit for glass transitions is also discussed.