Critical anomalies in thermal diffusivity of liquid-crystalline terephthal-bis-(4-n-butylaniline).

A temperature wave method has been applied to observe the thermal diffusivity through the isotropic (Iso)-nematic (N)-smectic Sm-A-Sm-C-Sm-B-crystals VI-VII-VIII phase transitions of terephthal-bis-(4-n-butylaniline) (TBBA). Critical anomalies have been found in the N-Sm-A and Sm-C-Sm-B phase transitions as diplike shaped, consistent with the predictions based on the dissipative couplings between the order parameter and the conserved free-energy density. Singular points with a gap have been observed at the Sm-B-crystal VI, crystals VI-VII, and crystals VII-VIII phase transitions, which show polymorphic behaviors on heating and cooling.

De- and rehydration behavior of alpha,alpha-trehalose dihydrate under humidity-controlled atmospheres.

Effects of humidity were investigated on de- and rehydration behavior of alpha,alpha-trehalose dihydrate (T(h)) throughout simultaneous measurements of differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry (DSC-XRD) and simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). When T(h) was heated from room temperature under dry nitrogen atmosphere, a metastable anhydrous crystal (T(alpha)) was formed at 105 degrees C after dehydration of T(h). The resulting T(alpha) melted at 125 degrees C and became amorphous, followed by cold crystallization from 150 degrees C giving rise to a stable anhydrous crystal T(beta).

Simultaneous XRD-DSC measurements of water-2-propanol at sub-zero temperatures.

A simultaneous low-temperature X-ray powder-diffractometric (XRD)-DSC technique was applied to the solid state and melting process of frozen aqueous solutions of 2-propanol. 1H NMR spectra were also obtained at low temperatures. The chemical shifts of the CH3 proton and the CH proton can be classified into four temperature regions: higher than -20 degrees C, around -20 degrees C, -50 to -20 degrees C, and lower than -50 degrees C.