Volume phase transitions of smectic gels

DOI IR IR (HANDLE) Web Site Web Site View 1 Remaining Hide 3 Citations

Search this article

Description

We present a mean-field theory to describe volume phase transitions of side-chain liquid crystalline (LC) gels, accompanied by isotropic-nematic-smectic-A phase transitions. Three different uniaxial nematic phases (N1, N2, and N3) and smectic-A phases (S1, S2, and S3) are defined by using orientational order parameter Sm of side-chain liquid crystals (mesogens), Sb of semiflexible backbone chains, and a translational order parameter σ for a smectic-A phase. We derive the free energy for smectic-A phases of side-chain LC gels dissolved in an isotropic solvent and examine the swelling curve of the LC gel, the orientational order parameters, and the deformation of the LC gel as a function of temperature. We find that the LC gel discontinuously changes the volume at an isotropic-nematic, an isotropic-smectic-A, and a nematic-smectic-A phase transition.

Journal

  • Physical Review E

    Physical Review E 79 (5), 051704-1-051704-11, 2009-05-19

    American Physical Society

Citations (3)*help

See more

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top