Simultaneous specific heat, thermal conductivity and imaging evaluations in thin samples of 8CB liquid crystal dispersed with microemulsion of DDAB/water micelles

In this work we use a photopyroelectric calorimetric set up to analyze the transformations occurring in thin samples of liquid crystal-microemulsion system by combining the results of the simultaneously performed high temperature resolution polarization microscopy observations and the temperature dependence of the specific heat, and of the thermal conductivity. This enabled an accurate direct correlation of the observations concerning the different measured quantities for a most comprehensive interpretation of the obtained results. It is found that the I-N conversion progresses in the entire nematic range because of the micelles expelled from the nucleating nematic volumes remaining confined in the residual isotropic material. A hysteretic behavior is observed in the nematic range between cooling and heating run because of the different micelle content in the material during the cooling and heating runs. A moderate hysteresys also over the N-A transition indicated an additional material refinement from micelles during the transition. Finally in samples with different micelle concentration the same maximum micelle content is retained in the nematic and smectic phases.