Thermodynamics of Glass-Forming Liquids

This chapter is dedicated to the description of thermodynamic properties of bulk metallic glass forming alloys. The thermodynamics of metastable and statistical mechanics of non-equilibrium matter and complex disordered systems, like undercooled liquids or glasses is a highly debated topic in theoretical physics [1–4]. The main aim of this chapter is to describe how we quantitatively access the thermodynamic functions of bulk metallic glass forming liquids experimentally using simple calorimetric means. Additionally, we will review how we can model the thermodynamic functions of the undercooled liquid in relation to the competing crystalline phases based on computational methods.