We systematically study glass formation in the well-known
Kob–Andersen
model over a wide range of densities and pressures as a basis for
judging the “universality” of glass formation through
a comparison to a recent systematic study of model polymeric glass-forming
liquids. Our purpose is to establish general characteristics of glass
formation, to identify new relations, and to discern which properties
of glass-forming liquids are material-specific and which are “universal.”
To this end, we analyze a number of characteristic properties of glass
formation, such as the structural relaxation time, self-diffusion
coefficient, viscosity, characteristic temperatures, and fragility.
We also consider a suite of properties presumably related to dynamic
heterogeneity in an attempt to better understand its relation to structural
relaxation. We demonstrate that the glassy dynamics in the Kob–Andersen
model exhibit many of the essential trends observed in polymeric glass-forming
liquids, pointing to a remarkable “universality” of
many aspects of glass formation.