A New Look at the Structure and Thermal Behavior of Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Camphor Mixtures.

An experimental quasi-equilibrium phase diagram of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-camphor mixture is constructed using an original optical method. For the first time, it contains a boundary curve that describes the dependence of camphor solubility in the amorphous regions of PVDF on temperature. It is argued that this diagram cannot be considered a full analogue of the eutectic phase diagrams of two low-molar-mass crystalline substances.

Magnetic properties and the crystal field problem for tetragonal HoBa(2)Cu(3)O(x).

Magnetic susceptibilities of the first and third orders as well as the magnetization of the singlet paramagnet HoBa(2)Cu(3)O(x) (x≈6.0) at low temperatures are studied experimentally using a SQUID magnetometer and compared with theoretical calculations. The magnetic behaviour of single-crystal HoBa(2)Cu(3)O(x) at low temperature is found not to follow the one calculated on the basis of the known crystal field parameters.