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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Chaotic boundaries of nematic polymers in mixed shear and extensional flows
M Gregory Forest1, Ruhai Zhou, Qi Wang
1Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Abstract:
Chaotic orientational dynamics of sheared nematic polymers is documented in laboratory experiments and predicted by Doi-Hess kinetic theory for infinitely thin rods. We address robustness of rheochaos when simple shear is modified by a planar straining flow, and the macromolecules have finite aspect ratio. We predict persistence of sheared chaotic response up to a threshold straining flow strength and minimum aspect ratio, beyond which chaotic behavior is arrested. More intriguing, a straining component can induce chaos from periodic shear responses.
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