Kinetics of the Isotropic‐Ordered Phase Transition in Binary Mixtures of Mesogenic Monomers and Polymers

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Kinetics of the nematic phase growth in the melted liquid crystalline azomethine monomer, siloxane‐azomethine polymer, and their mixtures was studied under a deep cooling using polarizing optical microscopy. The nematic droplets revealed in the optical images across the phase transition were treated statistically and the resulting statistical size distributions were described using principles of irreversible thermodynamics. Analysis of the mean droplet diameter as a function of time allowed recognition of two regimes involved to the nematic phase evolution: (1) nucleation and rapid nucleus growth and (2) nucleus coarsening. Both regimes were quantitatively described with the universal law of the cluster growth.

This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit: