https://www.tcd.ie/Physics/people/Graham.Cross/SF%20Poster%202011/Schuh-ActaMater07-Mechanical%20behaviour%20of%20amorphous%20alloys.pdf

Mechanical behavior of amorphous alloys

In comparing a material's resistance to distort under mechanical load rather than to alter in volume, Poisson's ratio offers the fundamental metric by which to compare the performance of any material when strained elastically. The numerical limits are set by ½ and -1, between which all stable isotropic materials are found. With new experiments, computational methods and routes to materials synthesis, we assess what Poisson's ratio means in the contemporary understanding of the mechanical characteristics of modern materials. Central to these recent advances, we emphasize the significance of relationships outside the elastic limit between Poisson's ratio and densification, connectivity, ductility and the toughness of solids; and their association with the dynamic properties of the liquids from which they were condensed and into which they melt.

/pdf/poisson-s-ratio-and-modern-materials-96egici4f6.pdf

Poisson's ratio and modern materials

Basic characteristics of the liquid-glass transition are reviewed, emphasizing its universality and briefly summarizing the most popular phenomenological models. Discussion is focused on a number of alternative models which one way or the other connect the fast and slow degrees of freedom of viscous liquids. It is shown that all these ``elastic'' models are equivalent in the simplest approximation.

/pdf/colloquium-the-glass-transition-and-elastic-models-of-glass-zkla9ibwsp.pdf

Colloquium : The glass transition and elastic models of glass-forming liquids

The elastic properties, elastic models and elastic perspectives of metallic glasses

We analyzed the glassy-state structural relaxation of polymers near surfaces and interfaces by monitoring fluorescence in multilayer films. Relative to that of bulk, the rate of structural relaxation of poly(methyl methacrylate) is reduced by a factor of 2 at a free surface and by a factor of 15 at a silica substrate interface; the latter exhibits a nearly complete arresting of relaxation. The distribution in relaxation rates extends more than 100 nanometers into the film interior, a distance greater than that over which surfaces and interfaces affect the glass transition temperature.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/309/5733/456.full.pdf

Structural Relaxation of Polymer Glasses at Surfaces, Interfaces, and In Between

The nature of the transformation by which a supercooled liquid ‘freezes’ to a glass—the glass transition—is a central issue in condensed matter physics1,2,3 but also affects many other fields, including biology4. Substantial progress has been made in understanding this phenomenon over the past two decades, yet many key questions remain. In particular, the factors that control the temperature-dependent relaxation and viscous properties of the liquid phase as the glass transition is approached (that is, whether the glass-forming liquid is ‘fragile’ or ‘strong’5,6,7) remain unclear. Here we show that the fragility of a glass-forming liquid is intimately linked to a very basic property of the corresponding glass phase: the relative strength of shear and bulk moduli, or Poisson's ratio.

A. P. Sokolov

Papers

Poisson's ratio and the fragility of glass-forming liquids