Coupling model explanation of salient dynamic properties of glass-forming substances

Most of the important and general dynamic properties of structural glass-forming substances have been classified into twelve different categories in a recent review. Within the same property in each category, by examining a large number of glass-formers, a pattern of variation is found which correlates with the departure of the structural relaxation of the glass-former from exponential decay or the quantity 1-/spl beta/, where /spl beta/ is the fractional exponent in the Kohlrausch expression exp[-(t//spl tau/)/sup /spl beta//], that well describes the time dependence of the structural at relaxation. The correlation of the patterns or trends with 1-/spl beta/ suggests that the salient dynamic properties, or phenomenology, of glass-forming substances, all are governed by the non-exponential nature of the structural relaxation, i.e. the quantity 1-/spl beta/. Therefore, a theory or model capable of relating the structural relaxation time /spl tau/ to 1-/spl beta/ has the potential of explaining most, if not all, of the salient dynamic properties of glass-forming substances. The coupling model of the author has this relation. In this accompanying paper we show the coupling model can either explain or interpret all these properties.