Hydrodynamic Scaling and the Intermediate-Range Order in Network-Forming Liquids

Abstract

The slow shear relaxation in network-forming liquids is described by the time correlation of long-lived current modes in the random network, and can be hardly traced by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In this work, the behaviors of the shear viscosity are inferred from those of a hydrodynamic exponent, which characterizes the approach of the shear viscosity from finite frequency to zero frequency under the ansatz of hydrodynamic scaling. The shear viscosities of network-forming liquids behave differently by the degrees of connectivity in the random network. The structural characteristics relevant to these behaviors manifest themselves in the intermediate-range order.