Yarn ball polymer microstructures: A structural transition phenomenon induced by an electric field

We report on an unusual polymer "yarn ball" microstructure that is created through a template-based synthetic process involving reactive mesogens. We present experimental results of a unique structural transition of the yarn ball when subjected to an electric field, and describe this transition with a modified elastic theory. We model the interactions of the mesogenic thre ad segments that comprise the yarn ball in terms of mean-field theory by in troducing an intersegment potential. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics . [S0003- 6951(00)00550-7].