LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE CHARACTERISTICS OF CELLULOSE DERIVATIVES - BINARY AND TERNARY MIXTURES OF ETHYL CELLULOSE, HYDROXYPROPYL CELLULOSE, AND ACRYLIC-ACID

Phase behavior in binary and ternary mixtures of ethyl cellulose (EC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), and acrylic acid (AA) was investigated by optical techniques including polarized-light microscopy (POM), refractometry, UV absorption, and circular dichroism (CD) spectrophotometries, and laser-light scattering. Both derivatives of cellulose formed a cholesteric liquid-crystal phase in concentrated solutions in AA. EC and HPC homopolymer solutions in AA showed iridescent colors in the concentration range of 42-50 wt% and 65-80 wt%, respectively. In the 30-50 wt% HPC/AA solutions, an optical image with fingerprint-like patterns was observed between crossed polars. CD revealed that the cholesteric helical sense was right-handed in the HPC/AA mesophase, while the EC/AA mesophase formed left-handed structures. Anisotropic samples of HPC/AA and EC/AA also showed a POM image with a grid-like texture, which was much coarser in the former system compared with that in the latter. A phase diagram constructed for the ternary system EC/HPC/AA was divided into five distinct regions: (1) isotropic (I) monophase, (2) I + HPC mesophase (HLC), (3) I + HLC + EC mesophase (ELC), (4) HLC + ELC, an (5) anisotropic monophase, with-the optical appearance changeable depending on polymer composition and concentration. In region 5 the anisotropic system was apparently monophasic in POM observations; however, CD and UV results indicated that the biphasic separation into the two cholesteric structures still occurred. Optical anisotropy and phase behavior were also examined for the EC/HPC binary blends prepared from solutions and melt.