Thermal Analysis of Solid-Solid Interactions in Binary Mixtures of Alkylcyclohexanes Using DSC

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to construct phase diagrams of binary mixtures of alkylcyclohexanes and to characterize metastable phases formed in the binary mixtures. The experimentally measured liquidus curves were compared to the liquidus curves calculated using ideal solution theory. The measured phase diagrams of pentadecylcyclohexane/nonadecylcyclohexane and octadecylcyclohexane/nonadecylcyclohexane binary mixtures are consistent with theoretical phase diagrams constructed based on the assumption that these mixtures form eutectic systems. It was also observed that a metastable phase formed in some binary mixtures of pentadecylcyclohexane/nonadecylcyclohexane under fast cooling conditions. It is hypothesized that this metastable phase recrystallizes into the eutectic phase upon heating. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.