Electrorheological response and orientational bistability of a homogeneously aligned nematic capillary

We consider a homogeneously aligned nematic liquid crystal confined in the region between two rotating coaxial cylinders. We study the nematic's director and velocity profiles induced by the imposed Couette flow and an applied radial electric field. We present calculations for the specific flow-aligning nematic liquid crystal 4(')-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl and numerically solve a hydrodynamic model assuming hard anchoring and nonslip boundary conditions. We calculate a phase diagram in the parameter space showing a region where there exist multiple equilibrium solutions for the nematic's configuration and a region where there exists only one stationary solution. We also study the rheology of the system by calculating the apparent viscosity and the first normal stress difference. We find that the competition between the Couette flow and the electric field gives rise to an interesting non-Newtonian response which switches its behavior from shear thickening to shear thinning by exceeding a critical field.