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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets

Published on: May 15, 2017

Stability of a sharp uniaxial-isotropic phase interface.

Oleg E Shklyaev¹, Amy Q Shen, Eliot Fried

¹Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, 157 Hammond Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States. oes2@psu.edu

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

|September 1, 2009

Summary

This study investigates the stability of nematic liquid crystal interfaces using new boundary conditions. It establishes a stability condition for moving interfaces and analyzes factors influencing perturbation growth.

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Area of Science:

Physics
Materials Science
Liquid Crystal Physics

Background:

Nematic liquid crystals exhibit distinct uniaxial and isotropic phases.
Understanding phase interface stability is crucial for material behavior.
Existing models may not fully capture interface dynamics without impurities.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the stability of the uniaxial-isotropic interface in nematic liquid crystals.
To develop a theoretical framework using advanced boundary conditions.
To analyze the impact of front velocity and dissipative mechanisms on interface stability.

Main Methods:

Application of newly developed boundary conditions incorporating director- and configurational-momentum balances.
Linear stability analysis of the interface.
Analysis of marginal stability curves, perturbation growth-rates, and wave-numbers.

Main Results:

A stability condition for the moving uniaxial-isotropic interface was determined.
The influence of front velocity and dissipative mechanisms on perturbation dynamics was quantified.
Cut-off wave-numbers were identified, defining short-wavelength limits for growing perturbations.

Conclusions:

The developed theory provides a robust model for uniaxial-isotropic interface instabilities in pure nematic systems.
This work serves as a limiting case for diffusion models involving impurity gradients.
The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of phase transitions in liquid crystals.