Rheology of a liquid crystalline polymer dispersed in a flexible polymer matrix

The addition of 10% of an aqueous lyotropic liquid crystalline dispersed ph ase to an isotropic polydimethylsiloxane melt increases the steady shear an d normal stresses and the dynamic moduli, but the increase caused by the li quid crystalline dispersed phase is much less than expected from the Palier ne and Doi-Ohta theories of blends. In contrast, the Palierne theory does a n adequate job of predicting the linear viscoelastic behavior of a blend wi th a 20% LCP dispersed phase. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.