Influence of the order parameter and of the director orientation on the surface tension of free nematic films

Abstract

A radial hydrodynamic flow in the nematic phase of free, suspended cylindrical films of 4-n-heptyl- and decyloxybenzoic acid and in 4,4′-di-n-heptyl-oxyazoxybenzene has been observed. The flow starts about 7°C before the phase transition into the smectic C phase. Under the same experimental conditions such a hydrodynamic flow is not established in free nematic films of 4-n-heptyl-and octyloxy-4′-cyanobiphenyl, 4,4′-dimethoxyazoxybenzene and N-(4-ethoxybenzylidene)-4′-n-butylaniline after the completion of the transition from the isotropic liquid to the nematic phase. The observed hydrodynamic flow is explained by a non-linear temperature dependence of the surface tension.