Step-wise kinetics of natural physical ageing in arsenic selenide glasses

The long-term kinetics of physical ageing at ambient temperature is studied in Se-rich As-Se glasses using the conventional differential scanning calorimetry technique. It is analysed through the changes in the structural relaxation parameters occurring during the glass-to-supercooled liquid transition in the heating mode. Along with the time dependences of the glass transition temperature (T-g) and partial area (A) under the endothermic relaxation peak, the enthalpy losses (Delta H) and calculated fictive temperature (T-F) are analysed as key parameters, characterizing the kinetics of physical ageing. The latter is shown to have step-wise character, revealing some kinds of subsequent plateaus and steep regions. A phenomenological description of physical ageing in the investigated glasses is proposed on the basis of an alignment-shrinkage mechanism and first-order kinetic equations.