Bond-induced ergodicity breakdown in reactive mixtures

We have studied by inelastic x-ray scattering, at wave vectors 1 nm(-1)<= q <= 15 nm(-1), the high-frequency dynamics of epoxy-amine mixtures as the monomers irreversibly polymerize. We find that chemical bonding, while inducing molecular ordering on a mesoscopic length scale, also efficiently realizes the mechanism of dynamical arrest described by the mode-coupling theory, as manifested by a cusp singularity in the behavior of the nonergodicity factor as a function of the number of chemical bonds. These results confront positively the mode-coupling theory with a new control parameter.