Effects of external fields on macromolecular cholesteric phase

Abstract

AbstractEffects of external fields such as magnetic field and boundary conditions on supramolecular structure, molecular arrangement and the texture of the ethyl‐cyanoethyl cellulose cholesteric liquid crystalline solutions were investigated. It was found that the molecules of (E‐CE)C are oriented to perpendicular to the magnetic field and the diamagnetic anisotropy of (E‐CE)C is negative. With homeotropic anchoring boundary condition, the molecules are aggregated with focal‐conics arrangement the molecules are aggregated with planar arrangement with homogeneous anchoring boundary condition. The effects of the external field on the orientation of the cholesteric phase were influenced by the concentration of the solution because the twist power of the cholesteric was varied with the concentration. And the effects are also restrains by the surface tension of the interphase.