PHASE-BEHAVIOR OF A NEMATIC LIQUID-CRYSTAL IN POLYBUTADIENE NETWORKS

Phase behavior of polybutadiene (PB) networks swollen in nematic liqui d crystal p-ethoxybenzylidene-p-n-butylaniline (EBBA) strongly depends an whether there is surrounding EBBA: without the surrounding EBBA, E BBA in PB networks fails to form the nematic phase, in the presence of the surrounding EBBA, the nematic phase is formed inside the gels, Th e results suggest that a high order of molecular alignment in the surr ounding nematic EBBA induces the formation of nematic phase inside the gels and the inducement effects overcome a high dilution effect of th e impurity (PB) on the interaction between EBBA molecules. (C) 1998 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.