Polymers

Effect of an electric field and a temperature gradient on the formation of a hydrodynamic flow in a thin nematic capillary

A. V. Zakharov^a, S. V. Pasechnik^b, G. I. Maksimochkin<sup>b

a</sup> Institute of Problems of Mechanical Engineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg
^b Moscow Technological University, Moscow

Abstract: A theoretical description of the principles of nonmechanical transportation of microliter volumes of a liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated in a thin capillary is proposed. By numerical methods within a nonlinear generalization of the classical Ericksen–Leslie theory, various regimes of formation of a hydrodynamic flow in a uniformly oriented LC cavity under the action of a temperature gradient and a double electrostatic layer naturally arising at the LC/solid interface are investigated. The sizes of an LC capillary and the parameters of the necessary thermal effect capable of initiating a flow of the LC phase in the horizontal direction are found.

Received: 14.05.2018

DOI: 10.21883/FTT.2018.12.46740.130

 English version: Physics of the Solid State, 2018, 60:12, 2656–2662

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