A pseudo-molecular model is used to evaluate the elastic constants of
a lyotropic nematic liquid crystal in which magnetic particles are sus
pended, The effective twist and bend elastic constants are shown to va
ry nonmonotonically with the concentration of magnetic grains, As the
concentration is increased above a critical value, the twist constants
K-22 and K-33 decrease below that of the undoped liquid crystal. This
corresponds to the concentration above which the liquid crystal-magne
tic grains composite has an effectively ''collective'' behaviour. The
origin of the nonmonotonic behaviour is due to the destabilizing contr
ibution of the magnetic grain-magnetic grain interaction to the total
orientational energy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.