Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 54: Poster Session 3

CPP 54.44: Poster

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 15:00–19:00, P2

Buckling Instabilities of Liquid Crystal Filaments Under Compression Stress — •Tanya Ostapenko¹, Seyyed Muhammad Salili², Alexey Eremin¹, Antal Jákli², and Ralf Stannarius¹ — ¹Institute of Experimental Physics, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany — ²Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA

Elastic buckling of solid rods is a well-known phenomenon. However, liquid rods composed of viscous isotropic non-Newtonian fluids (e.g. silicone oil) will buckle only when the diameter-to-length ratio is less than 0.2 [1]. There have been no reports on how a quasi-one-dimensional structured fluid may behave under compression stress, and to what extent the liquid crystal ordering is important in the resulting dynamics.

We report on the buckling behavior and relaxation dynamics for a variety of liquid crystal filaments under compression stress. The amount of off-axis deflection, or lack thereof, is dependent on both filament size and compression velocity. In contrast to other non-Newtonian fluids, liquid crystal filaments may buckle in multiple locations. Additionally, we observed a relaxation of the buckled material after compression. This indicates that there is some flow of material from the deflected segment into the menisci. We also discuss potential applications for this work.

[1] M. Le Merrer, D. Quéré, and C. Clanet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 064502 (2012).