In the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) scans of the annealed states of vapor-deposited, hyperquenched,
and crystal-amorphized solids, the glass-softening or T
g endotherm is interrupted by the crystallization exotherm,
thus making the T
g endotherm appear like a rounded peak. This apparent peak is occasionally misidentified
as a sub-T
g peak, which appears in the 0.7T
g to 0.8T
g range in the DSC scan of glasses preannealed at a
specific temperature, T
ann. To help prevent such misidentification, we provide four criteria for distinguishing
the apparent peak of the T
g endotherm from a sub-T
g peak: (i) Crystallization occurs in the T
g endotherm
range or at T just above it, and not in the sub-T
g peak range. (ii) The T
g endotherm onset occurs at T > T
ann,
but the sub-T
g peak onset occurs at T
ann. (iii) Unannealed glasses show a T
g endotherm; only
preanneal
ed
glasses show the sub-T
g peak, and the height of the sub-T
g peak and its area vary when T
ann and the annealing
time are varied. (iv) Slope of the DSC scan may decrease, become zero or become negative prior to the onset
of the T
g endotherm, but it does not decrease and remains positive prior to the onset of sub-T
g peak. The
annealed state of hyperquenched glassy water is known to crystallize in the 142−150 K range of its endotherm,
the onset temperature of the endotherm is higher than T
ann, its unannealed state shows the T
g endotherm, and
the slope of the scan prior to the onset temperature is not always positive. These observations remove the
basis for a recent conjecture that the T
g of water is between 165 and 180 K, and is unobservable. Available
calorimetric data on vapor-deposited, hyperquenched, and mechanically amorphized solids have shown a T
g
endotherm partially superposed by the crystallization exotherm, but T
g itself does not change. It is proposed
that intermediate states formed during the occurrence of disorder−order transitions in solids and in proteins
can be studied in the time domain by using their hyperquenched glassy and mechanically amorphized states.