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ABSTRACT
Liquid Crystals (LCs) have attracted significant attraction from scientific community due to their several applications. However, pure liquid crystals have main problem of slow response to various external stimuli and low heat resistance. These problems can be either eliminated/ reduced by using composite materials. Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) is a typical example of composite material which consists of nearly uniform sized droplets of a LC in a polymer matrix formed during the phase separation caused by a polymerization. The present study is an attempt to investigate optical and thermal response of PDLC for their technological applications. The textures and phase transition temperatures were studied by Polarizing Optical Microscopy (POM) which was confirmed by supplementary techniques of Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA). The functional groups present in the sample were studied by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy and Ultraviolet Visible (UV-VIS) Spectroscopy. In addition to these, Refractive Index (RI) is also determined to understand light propagation through this material. We found enhancement in optical and thermal properties of the composite material and changes in phase transition temperature along with new phase transition temperature.
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our sincere thanks to Dr. Vaishali A. Bambole, Professor and Head, Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, for her encouragement and support towards this research work.