Liquid crystal polymers first reported

Despite the numerous confirmations of the negative phenomenon, it has still been widely stated that the flow of all polymer systems exhibits only positive primary normal forces (i.e. a positive Nj, the first normal stress difference) [8, 9]. Even subsequent reviews and research papers on the specific subject of lyotropic main chain liquid crystal polymers have not mentioned the confirmed negative effect [10], and even equivalent shear measurements on the identical solutions did not report the negative effect [11]. 

There has been considerable interest in recent years in the study of liquid crystalline order in polymeric materials. Following on from the use of small molecules in display applications, the possibility of creating polymers with similar characteristics became attractive. Onsager and Flory predicted that rigid rod-like macromolecules should form liquid crystalline phase. However, it was not until 1975 that the first observation of a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer was reported. Several reviews have been published on polymeric liquid crystals. ... 

Polymers are nsed in fnel cells. Those of particular interest are the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and the phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) designs. The latter design contains the liquid phosphoric acid in a Teflon bonded silicon carbide matrix. In March 2005 Ticona reported that it had bnilt the first fnel cell prototype made solely with engineering thermoplastics. They claimed that this approach rednced the cost of the fuel by at least 50% when compared with fuel cells fabricated from other materials. The 17-cell unit contains injection moulded bipolar plates of Vectra liquid crystal polymer and end plates of Fortron polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). These two materials remain dimensionally stable at temperatures up to 200 "C. The Vectra LCP bipolar plates contain 85% powdered carbon and are made in a cycle time of 30 seconds. 

The first liquid crystal polymers (LCPs), in which structural moieties known to lead to mesomorphic behavior in small-molecule liquid crystals have been incorporated into the main chain, were reported in early 1980s. The presence of the mesogenic units in the polymer chain enhances the tendency for the material to form the liquid crystalline state, and these polymers also show better thermal stability. Both the nematic and smectic phases can be observed in these materials, (see Fig. 4.12). 

This polymer suffered thermal degradation only above 400 C, before melting. For molecular weights higher than about 20,000, it showed a lyotropic liquid-crystal behaviour in N-metnypyrrolidone containing LiCl. This is the first reported example of a furanic polymer with mesogenic properties. 

Although the technical applications of low molar mass liquid crystals (LC) and liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) are relatively recent developments, liquid crystalline behavior has been known since 1888 when Reinitzer (1) observed that cholesteryl benzoate melted to form a turbid melt that eventually cleared at a higher temperature. The term liquid crystal was coined by Lehmann (2) to describe these materials. The first reference to a polymeric mesophase was in 1937 when Bawden and Pirie (2) observed that above a critical concentration, a solution of tobacco mosaic virus formed two phases, one of which was bireffingent. A liquid crystalline phase for a solution of a synthetic polymer, poly(7-benzyl-L-glutamate), was reported by Elliot and Ambrose (4) in 1950. 

In the first edition of this book a report of the results completed under the National Science Foundation funding was given of the supercritical fluid fractionation of a number of liquid crystal and photoresist polymers (Krukonis, 1984b). Table 9.31 gives the structures of several polymers that were tested on the program. Results with three of these polymers are presented in order to illustrate the extent of separation that can be achieved by supercritical fluid fractionation. 

Boemlburg et al. (1991) first discovered the anti-ferroelectric liquid crystal phase in the chiral side chain liquid crystalline polymer, Sca phase. Several other research groups followed with more such side chain liquid crystalline polymers. Boemlburg et al. (1992) reported an anti-ferroelectric liquid crystal in the molecule... 

Liquid crystal block copolymers are a recently explored group of polymers which combine microphase separation and liquid crystallinity. Yet, as early as 1963, Gratzer and Doty [37] reported the first block copolymers containing two polypeptide blocks in which one of the blocks, poly(y-benzyl-L-glutamate) (PBLG), was already well known to be liquid crystalline. In principle, all the LCP structures shown in Fig. 1 can be incorporated into block copolymer structures with a second flexible coil or LC block. Some of the possible LC-BCP structures are shown in Fig. 2. Due to the limited nature of this review, structures such as the grafted LC copolymers [38] and various multiblock LC copolymers [39] will not be covered. 

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