Polarizing Optical Microscopy POM

Polarizing optical microscopy is often the method of first choice. It was with POM that the textures of liquid crystals were observed and the classification of liquid crystals was first made according to these observations. In this field, two books are recommended The Textures of Liquid Crystals by Demus and Richter (1978) and Smectic Liquid Crystals — Textures and Structures by Gray and Goodby (1984). While the latter provides readers with a practical and useful experimental guideline to the textures and classification of smectic liquid crystals of different polymorphic types together with as many as 124 reference photographs of typical textures, the former 

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In general, X-ray data are used in conjunction with other techniques to obtain as full a picture as possible. For liquid-crystalline materials, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarizing optical microscopy (POM) are conventionally used. 

The melt mixed 80/20 PS/iPP blend displays a set of exotherms, where the amount of the iPP component that was heterogeneously nucleated is substantially reduced as indicated by the decrease of the crystallization enthalpy in the temperature region where the iPP crystallizes in bulk, i.e., at 109-111 °C (exotherm labeled A). This effect is due to the confinement of iPP into a large number of droplets. If the number of droplets of iPP as a dispersed phase is greater than the number of heterogeneities present in the system, fractionated crystallization occurs. The number of droplets for this composition is known (by scanning electron microscopy observations) to be of the order of 1011 particles cm-3 and polarized optical microscopy (POM) experiments have shown that this iPP contains approximately 9 x 106 heterogeneities cm-3. In fact, it can be seen in Fig. 1 that the fractionated crystallization of the iPP compon-... 

The aggregation behavior of selected dibiock copolymers with various compositions was investigated applying several techniques, such as polarized optical microscopy (POM), tensiometry measurements, fluorescence studies, deuterium NMR spectroscopy, SAXS measurements, and cryogenic TEM [4, 5]. In systematic studies we particularly focused on the effect of an increase in the dimethylsiloxane chain length on the aggregation behavior of the investigated surfactants. 

Characterization. The liquid crystalline properties of the side-chain monomers (III) and polymers (I) have been studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction. The thermal transition data and phase types for all monomers (III) and polymers (I) are summarized in Table HI. A representative DSC scan for the monomer (El) and polymer (p with a four-carbon tail (n=4) and six-carbon flexible spacer (m=6) are shown in Figures 1 and 2 respectively. The first peak at -24°C shown in Figure 1 is the crystal to smectic... 

A complete characterization of liquid crystalline polymers should include at least two aspects the characterization of the molecular structure and that of the condensed state structure. Since the first characterization is nothing more than what is practiced for non-liquid-crystalline polymers, we will restrict the discussion to only a short introduction of methods mostly used in the characterization of the presence and the main types of polymeric liquid crystal phases. The methods include the mostly used polarizing optical microscopy (POM, Section 4.1), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, Section 4.2) and X-ray diffraction (Section 4.3). The less frequently used methods such as miscibility studies, infrared spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy will also be discussed briefly (Section 4.4). 

The thermal and morphological behaviors of PP/EPDM blends were studied by Da Silva and Coutinho (6) using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM), respectively. Crystallization kinetics of PP/ EPDM blends were found similar. Ten to twenty weight percent addition of EPDM resulted in increasing of spherulite size (Fig. 14.3). Heat of fusion and crystallinity degree of PP/EPDM systems decreased when EPDM contents were increased. 

Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM) Coupled with a Hot Stage Apparatus... 

The solid-state mechanochemical milling of PP/GRT blends was carried out, leading to the improved dispersion, as confirmed by the fluorescence microscopy and polarized optical microscopy (POM) observations (Zhang et al., 2012b). After 20 cycles of milling, the tensile strength and elongation at break of PP/GRT blends at a ratio of 100/40 were increased by 13.8% and... 

Botana et al. [50] have prepared polymer nanocomposites, based on a bacterial biodegradable thermoplastic polyester, PHB and two commercial montmorillonites [MMT], unmodified and modified by melt-blending technique at 165°C. PHB/Na and PHB/ C30B were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry [DSC], polarized optical microscopy [POM], X-ray diffraction [XRD], transmission electron microscopy [TEM], mechanical properties, and burning behavior. Intercalation/exfoliation observed by TEM and XRD was more pronounced for PHB30B than PHB/Na,... 

Fig. 2.1 a Polarized optical microscopy (POM) image of FCDs in a bulk thick (120 mm) cell of dodecylcyanobiphenyl (12CB) with different orientation (1) ellipses parallel to the plane of view, (2, 3) ellipses perpendicular to the plane of view [33]. Reproduced with permission [33]. Copyright 2009, Taylor Francis, b A schematic illustration of ideal SmA phase [34]. Each rod represents LC molecules. Reproduced with permission [34]. Copyright 1991, EDP Sciences Schematic illustrations of layer stmcture of a negative Gaussian curvature focal conic domain with (c) non-zero and (d) zero eccentricity... 

Cubic phases (Cub) are mesophases of cubic symmetry (Diele, 2002). Because of their high symmetry, their physical properties are no Imiger anisotropic. No defect texture is observed by polarizing optical microscopy (POM vide infra) and the image between crossed polarizers remains black. The cubic mesophases are very viscous and often their formation kinetics is very slow. Although cubic mesophases are very common for lyotropic LCs, where a cubic phase is possible between any pair of phases, there are only relatively few examples of cubic mesophases in thermotropic LCs. Whereas a cubic mesophase can be relatively easily detected when it is present between two anisotmpic mesophases, it is difficult to observe the formation of the cubic phase when it is formed by cooling an isotropic liquid. In this case, a deformatirMi of air bubbles in the melt is observed, as well as a sharp increase in the viscosity of the liquid. 

In the literature many differences can be found in the temperature range used for the study of the crystalUzation and melting processes of PEO and PCL based AB diblock and ABA triblock copolymers. When the studies are performed above room temperature, an important fraction of the blocks may remain amorphous [8-11, 14, 16] however, most authors report that when the study is extended at temperatures below Tg, both blocks can crystallize [13-15,17]. In the case of ABA triblock copolymers, it has been found that the B-block remains amorphous when its content is lower than 10%, or its molecular weight is very low. Piao et al. [17] and He et al. [18,19] synthesized either poly(e-caprolactone)-6-poly(ethylene oxide)-6-poly(e-caprolactone) ABA triblock copolymers, as well as poly(ethylene oxide)-6-poly(e-caprolactone) AB diblock copolymers. They used poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as precursor and a calcium catalyst. Then, they characterized the materials by using NMR, DSC, WAXS and Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM). Cooling DSC scans carried out by He et al. [18] in AB diblock copolymers of different compositions are presented in Fig. 13.1. 

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