Shear response of monodomains of flow-aligning nematic liquid crystals: TIF model comparisons and effect of pre-tilt

Small Surface Pretilt Strikingly Affects the Director Profile during Poiseuille Flow of a Nematic Liquid Crystal

“…Van Horn et al [9,10] have shown for the sheared flow of N-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline (MBBA) that surface pretilt may play an important role in the average director distortion, depending on the magnitude of the pretilt and the initial director alignment (rubbing direction) relative to the flow. Here, we present a pressure-driven or Poiseuille flow study, examining the properties of liquid crystal cells filled with 5CB (4-Cyano-4 0 -pentylbiphenyl) having high (almost normal to the flow) initial azimuthal alignment angle ( 0 ) and small surface pretilt ( 0 ) (from buffed polyimide [11]) in both the splayed and parallel aligned states (see Fig.…”