Phase properties of monomer/liquid crystal and polymer/liquid crystal mixtures

The phase diagrams of monomer and polymer/liquid crystal (LQ mixtures are i nvestigated, Two LCs are used: one is the eutectic mixture of four cyanobip henylene derivatives known as E7 and the other is 4-cyano-4'-n-pcntyl-biphe nyl or 5CB. The sensitivity of the phase behavior to the nature of monomer, the nature of LC and the UV polymerization is characterized. A single exam ple of UV polymerized/LC system is considered for comparison. Experimental phase diagrams are established by polarized optical microscopy and analyzed with a formalism using mean field theories of Flory-Huggins and Maier-Saup e.