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Rheologica Acta

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12-03-2019 | Original Contribution

Fumed alumina-in-nematic liquid crystal suspensions under shear and electric field

Authors: Saket Kumar, Saumyakanti Khatua, Prachi Thareja

Published in: Rheologica Acta | Issue 3-4/2019

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Abstract

We study rheology, microstructure, and response to an applied electric field (E) in suspensions of fumed alumina (Al₂O₃) nanoparticles in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) made of N-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline (MBBA). Fumed Al₂O₃/MBBA suspensions exhibit flowability with nanoparticle volume fraction (ϕ) = 0.001 and 0.007, and become solid-like gels at a nanoparticle ϕ = 0.014 and beyond. The dynamic rheology of gel-like suspensions follows the soft glass rheology (SGR) model. The effective noise temperature remains close to 1 for these Al₂O₃/MBBA suspensions, which serves as an indication of the presence of glassy dynamics. Further, the optical microscopy and the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) reveal that the incorporation of fumed Al₂O₃ nanoparticles causes a significant depression in the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature (T_NI). The gel-like suspensions are less sensitive to pre-shear and show a large structural recovery after shear when compared to Al₂O₃/silicone oil suspensions. At and above a critical nanoparticle ϕ = 0.005, the suspensions exhibit a reversible nematic-isotropic phase transition under the application of E.

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Title: Fumed alumina-in-nematic liquid crystal suspensions under shear and electric field
Authors: Saket Kumar
Saumyakanti Khatua
Prachi Thareja
Publication date: 12-03-2019
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Rheologica Acta / Issue 3-4/2019
Print ISSN: 0035-4511
Electronic ISSN: 1435-1528
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-019-01132-4

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