Structural Morphologies of Non-Mesogenic Polymer Stabilized Low Molar Mass Liquid Crystals
A.-M. Albu L. Zohrabyan, V.V. Presnyakov and T.V. Galstian
Previous studies of polymer stabilized liquid crystal devices, on the basis of mesogenic monomers, proved the importance of the morphology of the polymer domains involved in the control of electro optical properties of the material. All the more, the kinetic control of polymeric morphology plays a determining role in the case of non-mesogenic monomers, which is not characterized by orientational versatility, conferred by the mesogenic core in the polymer network. The present paper describes the investigation of the influence of the textural configuration for polymer-non-mesogenic domain on the electrooptical characteristics of PSLC systems. This influence is studied by using such experimental techniques as polarizing electronic microscopy, differential scanning calorimetric, etc. We clear up the monomer and/or polymer concentration effect to the phase transition level of liquid crystals used. In the same time, the investigation of evolution of polymerization process by using IR dichroism experiments offers information concerning the induced ordering in the polymer domain. It is demonstrated the possibility of obtaining a rich variety of morphologies using non-mesogenic monomers, each showing a unique electro-optic response.