SOLVENT-INDUCED STRUCTURAL TRANSITIONS IN A LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYESTER

Quenched nematic films of a liquid crystalline polyester were crystall ized either thermally or by solvent induced crystallization, and their structural organization was analyzed. All techniques show that the th ermal crystallization transforms part of the nematic phase into a crys talline one, the remaining part leaving unchanged. By contrast, the so lvent induced crystallization does transform a part of the nematic pha se into a crystalline phase, leaving the residual past in a much more disordered state resembling the amorphous state.