BOUNDARY LAYERS OF A NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTAL IN FINE CAPILLARIES.

It has been observed for the first time that in capillaries with a radius R less than equivalent to 7. 4 mu m molecules of a nematic liquid crystal, N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p-butylaninline, have a planar orientation which becomes homeotropic in capillaries with a large radius. Flowing destroys the homeotropic orientation the more noticeably, the higher the flow velocity v and the larger the radius of the capillary. The thickness of the boundary layers in homeotropic orientation reaches several micrometers when v equals 10** minus **2 cm/sec.