Patent ID: 8666705

Claim:
For a material that (a) is a glass or glass-forming liquid and (b) comprises N viscosity-affecting components, a method comprising (A) using a computer to evaluate an equation which relates equilibrium viscosity η and temperature T and has the following form: log 10 η( T,x )= C 1 +C 2 ·( f 1 ( x,FC 1)/ T )·exp([ f 2 ( x,FC 2)−1 ]·[f 1 ( x,FC 1)/ T− 1]) where (i) C 1 and C 2 are constants, (ii) x={x 1 , x 2 , . . . x i . . . x N } are the concentrations of the N viscosity-affecting components, (iii) FC 1 ={FC 1 1 , FC 1 2 . . . FC 1 i . . . FC 1 N } is a first set of empirical, temperature-independent fitting coefficients, one coefficient for each of the N viscosity-affecting components, and (iv) FC 2 ={FC 2 1 ,FC 2 2 . . . FC 2 i . . . FC 2 N } is a second set of empirical, temperature-independent fitting coefficients, one coefficient for each of the N viscosity-affecting components; and (B) using the results of step (A) to provide at least one of: (i) a predicted equilibrium viscosity η of the material at a temperature T, and (ii) a predicted temperature T at which the material has an equilibrium viscosity η.