POLYMERIZATION-INDUCED PHASE-SEPARATION OF A LIQUID CRYSTAL-POLYMER MIXTURE

We study the phase separation, induced by polymerization, of a liquid crystal-polymer mixture by using the Flory-Huggins mean-field free energy and a simple kinetic model of polymerization. Equilibrium phase behavior and the kinetic processes are analyzed separately. These results are then combined under the assumption that the polymerization rate is sufficiently slow, or the diffusive processes sufficiently rapid, that phase separation occurs at a well defined degree of polymerization. This allows the calculation of the critical time at which phase separation begins.