Spacer length and molecular weight variation on ferroelectric liquid crystalline polymers

Abstract

Abstract The influence of the spacer length ( n = 2, 6, 8 and 11 methylene groups) on the polymorphism and the ferroelectric properties of liquid crystalline side‐group polyacrylates with a 4‐[( R )‐4‐(1‐methylheptyloxy)‐4′‐biphenylyloxycarbonyl]phenoxy moiety was studied. Various molecular weights were obtained from the polymers with n = 8 and n = 11. All the polymers show SmC * phases. A SmC * phase polymorphism was even found for most of the polymers. In some of these SmC * phases, no ferroelectric properties could be measured. The structural differences between the SmC * phases and their influence on the appearance of the ferroelectric properties are not yet clear. However, a SmC̃ * phase was put in evidence, revealing a tendency to a chevron‐like ordering which may explain the complex SmC * polymorphism of these systems.