Structure of membrane surfactant and liquid crystalline smectic lamellar phases under flow

Journal Article · Fri Jul 30 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.261.5121.588· OSTI ID:5972220

Safinya, C R ^[1]; Sirota, E B; Plano, R J ^[2]; Bruinsma, R F; Jeppesen, C ^[3]; Wenzel, L J ^[4]

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1. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (United States)
2. Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, NJ (United States)
3. Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States)
4. American Design Corporation, Stirling, NJ (United States)

Synchrotron x-ray scattering studies were performed to probe the nonequilibrium structures of two layered systems at high shear rates: the smectic-A phase of the thermotropic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-octylbiphenyl (8CB) and the lamellar L[sub [alpha]] phases of surfactant membranes composed of sodium dodecyl sulfate and pentanol. Whereas the lamellar surfactant phases oriented primarily with their layers parallel to the shearing plates, as expected intuitively, in the corresponding high shear regime, the smectic-A liquid crystalline material oriented with the layers perpendicular to the shearing plates. A careful numerical study revealed that this surprising layer orientation results from nonlinear dynamics of the liquid crystal director and is caused by the flow distortion of thermal fluctuations.

• OSTI ID: 5972220
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 261:5121; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
FILMS
RADIATION SCATTERING ANALYSIS
SHEAR PROPERTIES
LIQUID CRYSTALS
SURFACTANTS
FLUID FLOW
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
X RADIATION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CRYSTALS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUIDS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LIQUIDS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
RADIATIONS
360603* - Materials- Properties