Extreme Elasticity Anisotropy in Molecular Glasses

Glasses are generally assumed to be isotropic and there are no literature reports of elastic anisotropy for molecular glasses. However, as glasses formed by physical vapor deposition can be structurally anisotropic, it is of interest to investigate the elastic anisotropy in these materials. Micro-Brillouin light spectroscopy is used in several experimental geometries to determine the elastic stiffness tensors of three glass films of itraconazole vapor-deposited at substrate temperatures (T-sub) of 330, 315, and 290 K, respectively. Significant elastic anisotropy is observed and, in these glasses, the elastic anisotropy shows a strong correlation with the molecular orientation. The out-of-plane and in-plane Young's moduli of the high T-sub (330 K) sample, which features a predominantly vertical molecular orientation, exhibit a high anisotropy ratio of 2.2. The observed elastic anisotropy is much larger than those previously observed in liquid crystals and even many crystalline solids.