M. Pfaffernoschke et al., METHACRYLATE NETWORKS CONTAINING CHIRAL CALAMITIC LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE SIDE-GROUPS, Macromolecular chemistry and physics, 199(10), 1998, pp. 2247-2254
A one-step copolymerization of ferroelectric methacrylate monomers lea
ding to networks is presented. Oriented networks are obtained and elec
tro-optical investigations are described. Smectic C and another smect
ic phase are found in slightly crosslinked networks. For higher crossl
inking densities, only the high temperature smectic C phase was found
. Electro-optical measurements were performed on the networks, and sig
nificant changes in the ferroelectrical properties were found. For cro
sslinking densities higher than 0.5 mol-%, switching times increased d
ramatically and the spontaneous polarization decreased. Networks with
crosslinking densities of 2 mol-% did not exhibit ferroelectric proper
ties.