Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 48: Colloids and Complex Liquids III

CPP 48.4: Talk

Friday, March 26, 2010, 11:15–11:30, H39

Coarsening and Structure analysis of thermotropic liquid crystal foams — •Torsten Trittel, Thomas John, and Ralf Stannarius — Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

Foams made from surfactant solutions (aqueous foams) are well investigated and understood, but so far, there has been no report of properties of thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) foams, which can be made from pure smectic material. This type of foams has distinct microscopic properties, compared to soap foams. Owing to their inner structure, they are much more stable than aqueous foams. In our experiments, we investigate two-dimensional foams, made from smectic A LC-material, by means of digital image analysis. We focus on the temporal evolution (ageing) and describe quantitatively the asymptotic behaviour. Fundamental scaling laws are derived for the mean cellarea, number of cells, distribution of n-polygons, Aboav-Weaire-law, etc.