Journal of Rheology, Vol.43, No.1, 111-124, 1999
A mesoscopic theory of liquid crystalline polymers
A kinetic equation for polydomains is used to develop a formal structure for a mesoscopic constitutive theory of textured liquid crystalline polymers. The lowest-order approximation for the texture terms leads to the Larson and Doi (1991) theory, but with a different meaning for the model parameters. Predicted macroscopic order parameters are in the range observed experimentally.
Keywords:GENERALIZED CONSTITUTIVE EQUATION;POLY(BENZYL GLUTAMATE)SOLUTIONS;MOLECULAR KINETIC-EQUATION;SHEAR FLOWS;RODLIKEPOLYMERS;RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES;CONCENTRATED-SOLUTIONS;LESLIE COEFFICIENTS;DEFECT TEXTURE;DOI THEORY