LCP droplet dispersions: a two-phase, diffuse-interface kinetic theory and global droplet defect predictions

Ordering kinetics of a conserved binary mixture with a nematic liquid crystal component

“…Binary alloys and polymer blends have been extensively studied (see e.g. [10,9]) and systems in which one of the components is a liquid crystal are receiving increased attention [47,53,31,45,12,11,50,40,51,24]. The systems involving liquid crystals are investigated via simulation [47,53,31,45,11] and the phase diagram indicating where transitions between the nematic and isotropic phases of the liquid crystal occur is analyzed [47,53,40].…”

Effects of spatially-varying substrate anchoring on instabilities and dewetting of thin nematic liquid crystal films

“…We are however unaware of experimental or theoretical work that studies the effects of nonuniform substrate anchoring on flow, spreading and instability of free surface NLC films. Perhaps the most directly relevant work of which we are aware, which takes account of the effects of local molecular orientation on flow, is that of Forest et al 16 , who use a diffuse-interface framework within the Doi-Hess kinetic theory for liquid crystal polymer droplets to study NLC droplets computationally under imposed shear in the presence of internal In this paper we present a minimal model for the flow and dewetting of thin (nanoscale) films of NLC on a flat substrate at which the strong planar anchoring is allowed to vary spatially. Free surface anchoring is assumed to be weak and homeotropic, following our earlier work 11,17 .…”

“…This is also our motivation for choosing the Leslie-Ericksen model over a more comprehensive (but complicated) theory such as Q-tensor theory: the model we derive is much more tractable (analytically and numerically) than would be possible by starting from alternative models. We refer the reader to the review by Rey 18 for an overview of works that use complementary approaches to modeling thin NLC films (such as the Landau-de Gennes formulation); see also more recent relevant work by Rey & Herrera-Valencia on modeling the isotropic-to-nematic transition in a dynamic wetting context using this approach 19 , as well as the above-referenced work by Forest et al 16 .…”

“…Fig 16. Free surface height evolution over a substrate with variable anchoring incorporating all four considered defect types.…”

Second Order, Linear, and Unconditionally Energy Stable Schemes for a Hydrodynamic Model of Smectic-A Liquid Crystals

“…In nematic phases, the rod-like molecules self-align to have a long-range directional order with their long axes roughly parallel. While maintaining long-range directional order, the molecules are free to flow and their center of mass positions are randomly distributed as in a liquid, see [6,7,13,17,[21][22][23][24]43,50,66,71,[74][75][76][77]84]. In smectic phases, the molecules maintain the general orientational order of nematics, but also tend to align themselves in layers or planes.…”