Free growth of a thermotropic columnar mesophase : supersaturation effects

P. Oswald , J. Malthête , P. Pelcé

The free growth (at constant temperature) of a columnar hexagonal liquid crystal is described. The chosen material is the hexaoctyloxytriphenylene. Three growth regimes are observed depending upon the value of the supersaturation Δ: a petal-shape regime for Δ < 0.2, a dendritic regime for 0.2 < Δ < 0.6 and a dense branching regime for Δ > 0.6. The first morphological transition is explained in the framework of the model of Brener et al. [6] by an effect of confinement and finite Peclet number. The second morphological transition remains unexplained for the moment.

Mots clés: dendrites; discotic liquid crystals; liquid crystal phase transformations

Domaines: Articles anciens

P. Oswald, J. Malthête, P. Pelcé. Free growth of a thermotropic columnar mesophase : supersaturation effects. Journal de Physique, 1989, 50 (15), pp.2121-2138. ⟨10.1051/jphys:0198900500150212100⟩. ⟨jpa-00211048⟩