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Dendritic patterns from shear-enhanced anisotropy in nematic liquid crystals
Qing Zhang1, Shuang Zhou2, Rui Zhang3
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Science Advances
|January 13, 2023
Summary
Researchers controlled fluid instability morphology by shear-enhancing liquid crystal anisotropy. This transition from dense-branching to dendritic growth was achieved by manipulating flow and elastic torques.
Area of Science:
- Fluid dynamics
- Materials science
- Liquid crystals
Background:
- Fluid instabilities, like viscous fingering, exhibit complex nonlinear growth patterns.
- Viscous fingering transitions from dense-branching to dendritic growth with increasing anisotropy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To controllably induce a morphology transition in viscous fingering using shear-enhanced anisotropy.
- To investigate the role of liquid crystal behavior in modulating fluid instability growth.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing nematic liquid crystal solutions subjected to shear flow.
- Analyzing the interplay between viscous and elastic torques on the director field.
- Observing morphology changes from dense-branching to dendritic growth.
Main Results:
- Shear-enhancing anisotropy in liquid crystals induced a transition to dendritic growth.
- Flow alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals was achieved by suppressing tumbling behavior.
- Macroscopic enhancement of liquid crystal anisotropy was linked to the morphology transition.
Conclusions:
- Controlling liquid crystal director fields via shear flow offers a method to tune fluid instability morphology.
- The study demonstrates a mechanism for transitioning between dense-branching and dendritic growth patterns.
- This work has implications for understanding and controlling complex fluid behaviors in anisotropic media.
