DSC study of some Ge-Sb-S glasses

Differential scanning calorimetric analysis was made on three glasses of the Ge-Sb-S system in order to obtain insight into the kinetics of glass transition and of the inherent relaxation processes occurring in the glass transition region. The heat capacity of the supercooled liquid referred to as the glass was measured. The value of the heat capacity jump at the glass transition, ΔCp, has been obtained for each glass. These values are in good agreement with those found for similar chalcogenide glasses. The relaxation process in the glassy alloy Ge30Sb10S60 was investigated by measuring the excess heat capacity of the annealed glass in the glass transition region. A relaxation enthalpy of 2.7 meV for annealing at 595 K for 17 h was determined. A kinetic study of the glass transition in the Ge20Sb10S70 glass was done. From the change in the glass transition temperature with scanning rate, an apparent activation energy of 3.9 eV was obtained. This value agrees with those measured for the apparent activation energy of the shear viscosity in similar glasses.