title: High-resolution calorimetric study of a liquid crystalline organo-siloxane tetrapode with a biaxial nematic phase.
abstract: High-resolution adiabatic scanning calorimetry and differential scanning calorimetry have been employed to study the thermal behavior of an organo-siloxane tetrapode reported to exhibit a biaxial nematic phase. No signature of the uniaxial to biaxial nematic phase transition could be retraced in sequential heating and cooling runs under different scanning rates, within the experimental resolution. The results obtained reveal that an extremely small heat should be involved in the uniaxial to biaxial nematic phase transition. The isotropic to uniaxial nematic transition at 318+/-0.01 K is very stable, and it is weakly first order with a rather small latent heat of 0.20+/-0.02 J/g .
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium voor Akoestiek en Thermische Fysica, Departement Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cordoyiannis
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Apreutesei
authors.forename: Georg H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Mehl
authors.forename: Christ
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Glorieux
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thoen