Simulation of phase-separated structures of liquid-crystalline polymer/flexible polymer blends

The phase-separation kinetics of liquid-crystalline polymer/flexible polyme r blends was studied by the coupled time-dependent Ginzberg-Landau equation s for compositional order parameter phi and orientational order parameter S -ij. The computer simulations of phase-separated structures of the blends w ere performed by means of the cell dynamical system in two dimensions. The compositional ordering processes of phase separation are demonstrated by th e time evolution of (h. The influence of orientational ordering on composit ional ordering is discussed. The small-angle light scattering patterns are numerically reproduced by means of the optical Fourier transformation of sp atial variation of the polarizability tensor alpha (ij), and the azimuthal dependence of the scattering intensity distribution is interpreted. (C) 200 1 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.