Advances in Liquid Crystals

Advances in Liquid Crystals, Volume 4 is a collection of papers that deals with liquid crystal sciences, particularly the flow problems in liquid crystals, the effects of high pressure on liquid crystals, lyotropic and thermotropic polymeric liquid crystals, and the light-scattering properties of thermotropic liquid crystals. One paper reviews the continuum theory in flow problems in liquid crystals, presents theoretical predictions, and compares these with associated observations. High-pressure experiments in liquid crystals pave the way for discoveries involving pressure-induced mesomorphism in certain materials, suppression of mesophases, tricritical phase transitions, and re-entrant behavior. Another paper describes the types of macromolecular structures that have a propensity for mesomorphism — linear, conventional types of polymers, such as block copolymers and graft copolymers. Another paper examines the application of light scattering in fluctuations that happens during the liquid crystalline phases. The paper investigates the assumption that light is scattered by inhomogeneities in the dialectric constant of the medium it is passing through. This collection can prove useful for scientists in liquid crystals, and industrial researchers in the field of advanced chemistry and physics.