Abstract
Spherulites appear during the formation of a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) under certain fabrication conditions. High UV irradiance results in a sample dominated by liquid crystal droplets while low UV irradiation results in the growth of spherulites, possibly because the latter condition creates fewer droplets, which is preferable for spherulitic growth. Spherulites that are nucleated adjacent to each other maintain their circular shape during growth until they make contact with each other, and then form a straight line boundary while maintaining radial growth. Direct observation of the inner aspect of PDLCs by means of Nomarsky differential interference microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revealed that the three-dimensional structure of a spherulite is plate like and that the boundary line seen in polarization microscopy contains no structure within the resin matrix, indicating that the body of a spherulite consists mainly of liquid crystal. A model of merging spherulites is proposed in this paper.
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