Liquid Crystal Rheology
A special issue of Fluids (ISSN 2311-5521).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2018) | Viewed by 30308
Special Issue Editors
Interests: DNA; chromatin and chromosome physics; active matter physics; liquid crystal physics; soft condensed matter
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Liquid crystals are “crystals which flow”. Our understanding of the flow properties (rheology) of these materials commenced with the seminal work of Leslie, Ericksen and Parodi, who introduced the first continuum description of the coupling between flow and orientational order in nematics in the 1970s. Their theory was extended, among others, by Beris and Edwards during the 1990s, who proposed equations in which flow coupled to a tensorial order parameter, which is more adapt at capturing samples with a variable degree of order.
Since then, the field of liquid crystal rheology has seen a dramatic increase in richness and complexity, leading to a number of open research avenues. The complexity may arise for instance due to the presence of topological defects or of complex spatially varying director field patterns, to the coupling between flow and external fields, or to the presence of multiple phases, such as in colloid–liquid crystal composites or liquid crystalline emulsions. Active materials which are liquid crystalline, such as solutions of cytoskeletal filaments with molecular motors and microbial suspensions, are also a topical area of research nowadays, with possible application as new soft materials, and their rheological properties are currently still understudied.
Within this Special Issue, we would like to address open questions in topics such as those listed above, in the broad field of liquid crystal rheology.
Prof. Dr. Davide MarenduzzoDr. Oliver Henrich
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- liquid crystal rheology
- nematics, cholesterics, smectics and blue phases
- shear and Poiseuille flow
- liquid crystal hydrodynamic