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Updated: Jul 31, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Viscous fingering in liquid crystals: anisotropy and morphological transitions
Folch1, Casademunt, Hernandez-Machado
1Departament d'Estructura i Constituents de la Materia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Diagonal, 647, E-08028-Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
We show that a minimal model for viscous fingering with a nematic liquid crystal in which anisotropy is considered to enter through two different viscosities in two perpendicular directions can be mapped to a twofold anisotropy in the surface tension. We numerically integrate the dynamics of the resulting problem with the phase-field approach to find and characterize a transition between tip splitting and side branching as a function of both anisotropy and dimensionless surface tension. This anisotropy dependence could explain the experimentally observed (reentrant) transition as temperature and applied pressure are varied. Our observations are also consistent with previous experimental evidence in viscous fingering within an etched cell and simulations of solidification.
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