Observation of Phase Separation Process in the Binary Mixture of Nematic and Isotropic Polymers

Abstract

We investigated the phase separation process in the binary mixture of the semi-rigid thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer and the flexible polymer. By raising temperature, an initially homogeneous mixture undergoes the phase separation. Utilizing the nematic property of one component, we were able to observe this segregation process by means of a polarizing microscope under crossed polarizers. We found a new mechanism to explain the coalescence of droplets in the latest stage.