ABSTRACT
An experimental study of the ferroelastic phase transition in urea/n-heptadecane CO(NH2)2/C17H40 composite around the structural phase transition undergone by this crystal at 159 K is presented. The temperature dependence of the macroscopic spontaneous strain and the optical birefringence around this temperature has been determined. A phenomenological model limited to the hexagonal-orthorhombic change of the urea sublattice leads to a linear relation between these quantities and the phase transition entropy. The experimental data agree with this description exception made of the near vicinity of the phase transition, where the influence of the alkane chain ordering processes cannot be excluded.
ABSTRACT
A calorimetric study of urea/n-nonadecane, CO(NH(2))(2)/C(19)H(40), and the deuterated derivatives, CO(ND(2))(2)/C(19)D(40) and CO(NH(2))(2)/C(19)D(40), around the structural phase transition temperature is presented. For this purpose differential scanning (DSC), temperature-modulated (AC) and adiabatic calorimetry have been used and the obtained results are compared. Leaving apart the noticeable peak associated with the main phase transition at 158.5, 149.4 and 154 K respectively, small anomalies of the specific heat are found at lower temperatures and their corresponding entropic and enthalpic changes are reported. Heating and cooling experiments show the influence of the temperature rate and the thermal history on the detailed profile of the specific heat traces. The presence of thermal hysteresis and latent heat as a way to characterize the order of the phase transitions is discussed. Finally, a tentative approach to the urea and the alkyl chain contributions to the specific heat and their influence on the phase transition mechanisms is presented.
ABSTRACT
The potassium manganese tetrafluoroberyllate langbeinite compound has been studied in the temperature range 100-300 K. Using DSC measurements, a phase transition has been detected at 213 K. The space group of the low-temperature phase was determined to be P112(1) using X-ray diffraction experiments and optical observations of the domain structure. The b axis is doubled with respect to the prototypic P2(1)3 cubic phase. Lattice parameters were determined by powder diffraction data [a = 10.0690 (8), b = 20.136 (2), c = 10.0329 (4) A, gamma = 90.01 (1) degrees ]. A precise analysis of the BeF(4) tetrahedra in the low-temperature phase shows that two independent tetrahedra rotate in opposite directions along the doubled crystallographic axis. A symmetry mode analysis of the monoclinic distortion is also reported. This is the first report of the existence of such a phase transition in K(2)Mn(2)(BeF(4))(3) and also of a new type of low-temperature structure for langbeinite compounds.
