3D simulations of phase separation with a liquid crystal component

Abstract

We present three-dimensional numerical simulations of a binary mixture with a nematic liquid crystal and flexible polymer phases using Model B, which is defined by coupling the Cahn-Hilliard equation with the de Gennes-Prost equation. The model is based on the Ginzburg-Landau free energy and the purpose of the work is to analyze in three dimensions how the orientational distortion of the director field induced by interfacial anchoring affects the morphology of the binary mixture.