PHASE STRUCTURES AND TRANSITION BEHAVIORS OF A TRIPHENYLENE DISCOTIC LIQUID CRYSTAL

The phase behaviors and structures of a triphenylene-derived discotic liquid crystal （LC） hexa-n-octoxyl- triphenylene （C8HET） were studied using the combined techniques of differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）, wide angle X-ray diffraction （WAXD）, selected area electron diffraction （SAED） and polarized light microscopy （PLM）. Onedimensional （1D） powder WAXD results at different temperatures coupled with DSC and PLM observations revealed that the C8HET compound possessed an LC phase and three different crystalline （K3, K2 and K1） phases below the isotropic （I） melt. The I←→ LC phase transition was thermodynamically reversible and independent of the heating and cooling rates. The development and experimental observation of the three crystalline phases relied on different thermal histories. Among the three crystalline phases in CSHET, the K3 phase is the most stable phase, while the K2 and K1 phases are metastable. Note that the K1 phase only formed via a quenching process. Oh the basis of structure sensitive diffraction experiments such as 2D WAXD of oriented samples and SAED of single crystals, detailed structures and molecular packings of these four ordered phases were identified. The LC phase exhibited a hexagonal columnar phase with 2D lattice dimensions ofa = b = 2.38 nm and γ= 120°. All the three crystalline phases possess monoclinic unit cells, yet the y angle is not 90° in the cases of the K2 and the K3 phases, while in the case of the K1 phase the a angle is not 90°.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES OF POLYMER SURFACE RELAXATION FROM THE BULK?

The polymer surface relaxation in thin films has been a long debating issue. We report a new method on studying surface relaxation behaviors of polymer thin films on a solid substrate. This method involved utilizing a rubbed polyimide surface with a pretilting angle in a liquid crystalline cell. Due to the surface alignment, the liquid crystals were aligned along the rubbing direction. During heating the liquid crystalline cell, we continuously monitored the change of orientation of the liquid crystals. It is understood that at a temperature where the orientation of liquid crystal is lost, the surface relaxation on the glass substrate takes place to lose the polyimide surface orientation. It was found that the relaxation temperature at which the liquid crystals lose their orientation depends on the film thickness of the polyimide. A quantitative linear relationship between the relaxation temperature and reciprocal of the film thickness can be observed. Furthermore, different topologies of the rubbed and relaxed thin films were amplified using the polyethylene decoration method and observed using atomic force microscopy.