Linking glass-forming ability with configuron localization and electrical conductivity

Glass-forming ability (GFA) is traditionally discussed in terms of atomic mobility, thermodynamics, and kinetic suppression of crystallisation. However, correlations between GFA and electrical conductivity across both metallic and non-metallic amorphous systems suggest a more general controlling factor. Here we propose that glass formation is governed not by atomic mobility alone, but by the mobility and spatial localisation of broken-bond configurations termed configurons. We argue that vitrification occurs more readily when these configurational excitations remain localised, whereas crystallisation requires their delocalisation and percolation through the network. This framework unifies metallic glasses, oxide glasses, chalcogenide glasses, and fast-ion conducting systems, and provides a direct link between transport properties such as electrical conductivity and glass-forming ability.