Liquid crystal polymers LCPs as a reinforcement in high temperature polymer blends

Key words hquid crystal polymer, thermoplastic, blend, self-reinforcing, 

In the field of polymer engineering, several approaches have been considered. One is to exploit the fact that extended-chain crystals of polymers are both more stable (higher melting point) and stronger (not weakened 

The focus of this chapter is more specifically blends in which the reinforcing species is a thermotropic LCP which is blended in a rather conventional way with isotropic thermoplastics (TP). This exploits the inherent strength and low viscosity of the LCP in a way which leads to maximum benefit at minimum processing complexity. This has been an actively studied area of polymer engineering for 40 years and continues to be of interest. We note that though much work has been done on the science of LCP blends, there is also a need to review the exploitation aspects in terms of cost considerations, patents and commercial products. 

Before the advent of the internet and easily accessible onUne search tools, there was great value in a work which purported to be a complete and exhaustive overview of a specific aspect of a field. Presumably the author would have read essentially every relevant article from the major journals in the field, as well as a selection of obscure journals, from bound volumes and current issues in a library. This was done as a service to others with an interest in the field, to spare fellow researchers the effort of having to hunt down all of the primary materials themselves. The production of review and survey articles was part of the process of digesting new science and incorporating it into the body of established science. The unspoken assertion of the author of such a work was that if it is not in my survey/review article, it is not significant . 

Alternatively, one can start with the 175 in situ composite hits, then add additional terms such as polymer (26 hits), LCP (12 hits) and rheology (5 hits) and focus rapidly and efficiently onto the niche of interest, and have the papers (and their reference lists) in hand immediately as PDFs on a USB stick. Thus many days of pre-internet literature search can be accomplished in a single working session. The term continues to be used to describe LCP/ thermoplastic polymer blends, as does the term self-reinforcing composite (though the latter is a misnomer, since the matrix does not in fact reinforce itself there is a distinct reinforcing species).  

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