Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 9: Poster: Interfaces and Thin Films (joint session with DECHEMA and VDI)

CPP 9.34: Poster

Monday, March 11, 2013, 17:30–19:30, Poster C

Hydrodynamic description of free surface films of nematic liquid crystals: weak anchoring model — •Te-Sheng Lin and Uwe Thiele — Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK

We propose a long-wave model that describes the dynamics of a free surface thin film of nematic liquid crystals on a solid substrate under weak anchoring conditions at the free surface. The model recovers two regimes reported in the literatures: (i) For thick films the surface anchoring energy dominates. The molecules in the bulk have to bend across the film (HAN state) and lead to strong 'elastic diffusion' of the free surface height; (ii) For thin films the bulk elastic energy dominates. The orientation of the molecules is homogeneous in the bulk (P state) and has no influence on the stability of the free surface. Furthermore, it is found that there exists an intermediate film thickness range for which the free surface is linearly unstable. Finally, we show that the P state, even though neutrally stable, is actually nonlinearly unstable.