Abstract
Equilibrium phase properties of mixtures of crosslinked polymers and nematic liquid crystals (LCs) are investigated. Effects of the volume fraction of polymer at crosslinking φ0 , the number of monomers between consecutive crosslinks Nc and the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter χ on these properties are discussed. Two models for the elastic free energy are used to describe the effects of φ0 Three cases are considered depending upon polymer volume fraction at crosslinking. If crosslinking takes place in the bulk, the elastic free energy is the same and the two models are identical. Otherwise, either φ0 is constant or equal to φ2 , the two models may lead to completely different results depending upon crosslinking density. Strong correlations are found between the effects of φ0 and Nc on the phase behavior of crosslinked polymers and nematic liquid crystal mixtures. These diagrams are also strongly dependent upon the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter for isotropic mixing χ. This dependence is illustrated through three models for the variation of χ with temperature and composition.
Published Version
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