Morphological and correlation characteristics of polymer-liquid crystal systems
Abstract
A method for producing polymer-encapsulated liquid crystal (PELC) films based on polyvinyl butyral (PVB) as a binder and 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) as a liquid crystal (LC) has been proposed, along with an analysis of their optical characteristics. The PELC films were obtained by the phase separation during heating (TIPS) method with different compositions of the two components. Detailed studies were conducted using polarized optical microscopy (POM) and derivatography to assess the correlation between the composition of the composite and the formation of PELC. It was found that PVB and 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) are partially miscible, with the maximum solubility limit lying in the range (41–43%). The presented thermograms and their analysis expand the current understanding of the formation of PELCs using the TIPS method. The use of PVB as a binder in the creation of CPLC systems opens up new design possibilities due to its superior performance compared to other polymers commonly used in composite systems. PVB has been proven to be an ideal binder material for the formation of PELC films.