Equilibrium phase properties of polymer/liquid crystal blends: Theory and experiments

A theoretical formalism to calculate the phase diagrams of polymer/liquid c rystal mixtures is presented. Mixtures involving linear and crosslink-ed po lymers together with low molecular weight nematic and smectic-A liquid crys tals are considered. The generalization to binary mixtures of nematogens is briefly shown. The method of calculating model phase diagrams of side chai n liquid crystal linear and crosslinked polymers in either isotropic or nem atic solvents is presented. In nematogen mixtures, the coupling parameter i nduces tremendous changes in the miscibility of both linear and crosslinked polymers with low molecular weight analogous or different liquid crystals. Applications of the theoretical formalism are given.