A study of the static and dynamic properties of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers in low molar mass mesogens

The static and dynamic properties of solutions of a side chain polysiloxane liquid crystal polymer have been studied in a cyanobiphenyl nematic host as a function of concentration and temperature. Refractive index measurements were carried out on aligned samples and the data used to determine the macroscopic order parameter, S, using Haller's method. Photon correlation spectroscopy has been used to measure ($\text{k}{}_{22}\text{γ}{}_1$) for the pure nematic solvent and the solutions. From these measurements it appears that the static properties vary slowly and linearly with increasing polymer concentration whilst the dynamic or viscoelastic properties change markedly. This change has been attributed to γ₁, the twist viscosity, and the results have been discussed in terms of the function of the siloxane polymer backbone.