Effect of Ordering on Spinodal Decomposition of Liquid-Crystal/Polymer Mixtures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the ordering process influences the spinodal decomposition in liquid-crystal/polymer mixtures, revealing that phase ordering can produce fibrillar structures in the phase-separated morphology.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical study of the coupling between phase ordering and separation kinetics in liquid-crystal/polymer mixtures, highlighting the formation of fibrillar networks.

Findings

Phase ordering leads to fibrillar polymer-rich structures.

Coupling between phase separation and ordering affects morphology.

Numerical model captures key features of the phase behavior.

Abstract

Partially phase-separated liquid-crystal/polymer dispersions display highly fibrillar domain morphologies that are dramatically different from the typical structures found in isotropic mixtures. To explain this, we numerically explore the coupling between phase ordering and phase separation kinetics in model two-dimensional fluid mixtures phase separating into a nematic phase, rich in liquid crystal, coexisting with an isotropic phase, rich in polymer. We find that phase ordering can lead to fibrillar networks of the minority polymer-rich phase.