Phase transition studies in N(p-n-pentyloxy benzylidene) p-n-decyl aniline

The temperature dependences of the molar volume, the ultrasonic velocity and the refractive index in N(p-n-pentyloxy benzylidene) p-n-decyl aniline, which exhibits nematic, smectic-A and smectic-B, phases, are presented. The isotropic-nematic and smectic-A-smectic-B phase transitions are found to be of first order while the nematic-smectic-A transition is of second order. The thermal expansion coefficient (a) computed from the molar volume data agrees with a second-order N-S_A transition. The computed adiabatic compressibility β_ad, molar sound velocity (or Rao number R_n ) and molar compressibility (or Wada constant A) are presented.