Phase diagrams and morphology of polymer dispersed liquid crystals based on nematic-liquid-crystal-monofunctional-acrylate mixtures

The phase behavior of 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate blends in the polymerized and unpolymerized states was studied by differential scanning calorimetry and polarized optical microscopy. The experimental phase diagrams exhibit typical upper critical solution temperature shapes. The (N + I) miscibility gap, as well as a single isotropic phase, was observed for both systems. For the polymerized system, the existence of an (I + I) miscibility gap is clearly shown. The phase diagrams obtained were analyzed in terms of a classical model based on a combination of the Flory-Huggins and Maier-Saupe theories.