Structure formation in liquid crystalline polymers

摘要

We have developed a simulation technique, baseed on a dynamic mean field theory to describe the evolution of a melt of liquid crystalline polymers that is quenched below its isotropic-nematic transition temperature. The polymers are described by chains characterized by a bending energy depending on the angles between consecutive chain segments and a Maier Saupe term accounting for the effect of mutual alignment of the segments in the melt. The equations for the time evolution of the system depend on coarsened variables, which are the density #rho#(r) and the orientation distribution S(r). The density field #rho# evolves according to a diffusion-type equation, whereas the orientation field S follows a growth equation.