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Line Tension and Entropy for Molecularly Thin Liquid Crystal Films at Temperatures Corresponding to Less-Ordered Bulk Phases

Yarzebinski, Joseph Santiago
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0907-448X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1469646126

Abstract Details

2016, MS, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Physics.
This thesis considers thin films of 4'-n-octyl-4-cyano-biphenyl (8CB). At room temperature, 8CB forms a monolayer on a water surface in open air, given the right ratio of area to number of molecules. Then, as that ratio is decreased by a small amount, either by decreasing the area of the surface or by adding more 8CB, regions that are three molecules thick appear and coexist with an overall background that is one molecule thick. The separation line between the two distinct fluid phases, monolayer and trilayer, has a line tension, or energy per unit length. As more 8CB is added, trilayer predominates and becomes the background, with monolayer islands, but the behavior of the line separating the two phases remains the same. A Brewster angle microscope images 8CB surface layers on water with good contrast between phases. The objective of this thesis is to measure the line tension associated with this phase boundary as a function of temperature, with particular attention to temperatures at which the bulk liquid crystal would not form layers. A constant non-zero line tension means that domains in a perturbed region of the surface will relax to a circular shape if allowed to reach equilibrium. A hydrodynamic model is employed to correlate the changing shape of a domain during the relaxation process with an associated line tension.
Elizabeth Mann, PhD (Committee Chair)
Hamza Balci, PhD (Committee Member)
John Portman, PhD (Committee Member)
96 p.
Physics
line tension; line energy; 8CB; monolayer; thin film; Brewster Angle Microscope; BAM;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yarzebinski, J. S. (2016). Line Tension and Entropy for Molecularly Thin Liquid Crystal Films at Temperatures Corresponding to Less-Ordered Bulk Phases [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1469646126

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yarzebinski, Joseph. Line Tension and Entropy for Molecularly Thin Liquid Crystal Films at Temperatures Corresponding to Less-Ordered Bulk Phases. 2016. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1469646126.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yarzebinski, Joseph. "Line Tension and Entropy for Molecularly Thin Liquid Crystal Films at Temperatures Corresponding to Less-Ordered Bulk Phases." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1469646126

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1469646126
526
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.