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The Viscosity Coefficients of Oriented Nematic and Nematic Discotic Liquid Crystals; Affine Transformation Model

Baalss, D.; Hess, Siegfried

General expressions are derived for the anisotropy of the viscosity and for the Leslie coefficients governing the flow alignment subject to the assumption that the equipotential surfaces for the interaction of oriented nonspherical molecules in the nematic or nematic discotic phase of a liquid crystal are related to a spherical interaction potential by an affine transformation. In particular, for uniaxial particles, the seven independent viscosity coefficients of a nematic are given in terms of the two viscosity coefficients of a reference fluid of spherical particles and the axes ratio of the nonspherical molecules. The theory is compared with results from nonequilibrium molecular dynamics computer simulations and with experimental data.
Published in: Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A, 10.1515/zna-1988-0709, De Gruyter