The Metabolemeter: I A New Apparatus to Detect the Phase Transitions of Mesogens

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Abstract
For the most organized mesophases, no really efficient routine method to detect phase transitions exists for small quantity. In these cases, the first order phase transitions of a compound enclosed in a metallic cell are occurring with an important pressure increment. In the measure of the pressure versus the temperature, intensive data only occur and miniaturization is possible. A new apparatus (metabolemeter) using this principle is described. Its efficiency was tested on the crystal-mesophase transitions of the two first terms of the alkoxybenzylidene butyl aniline series and of the octylcyanobiphenyl. For these three compounds, the studies of the nematic-liquid transitions show this barometric method is sensitive.