Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
A scenario has been developed combining the glass transition (liquid to glass) with the crystal-to glass transition. If the “melting” point of a crystalline solid solution is reduced to the ideal glass transition temperature a triple point is predicted between crystal, liquid and glass. Based on extrapolations of measured specific heat data of undercooled liquid glass-forming Au- Pb-Sb alloys the excess entropy is found to vanish close to the glass transition. On the other hand, the amorphization reaction of crystalline Fe2Er-hydrides is characterized by a lambda-type anomaly in the specific heat. The logarithmic temperature-dependence of the specific heat results from local fluctuations in the crystalline phase, rather than thermally activated lattice defects. These results suggest that glass formation from the liquid as well as the crystalline state is characterized by an underlying instability.