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The Viscosity Coefficients of Biaxial-Nematic Liquid Crystals. Phenomenology and Affine Transformation Model

Baalss, Dieter

The viscosity tensor of biaxial-nematic liquid crystals contains 16 independent elements. A complete set of these viscosity coefficients is introduced and related to experimentally accessible quantities. Furthermore, the flow alignment and its stability against an arbitrary infinitesimal disturbance are discussed. By the affine transformation model, formerly established for the uniaxial symmetric case, one can express the viscous anisotropy of perfectly ordered biaxial ellipsoids in terms of the two viscosities of an isotropic reference system and the axes ratios of the nonspherical particles.
Published in: Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A, 10.1515/zna-1990-0103, De Gruyter