No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Materials based on amphiphilic molecules have a wide range of industrial applications and are of fundamental importance in the structure of many biological systems. Their importance derives from their behaviour as surface-active agents in solubilization applications and because of their ability to form systems with varying degrees of structural order such as micelles, bilayers and liquid crystal phases. The nature of the molecular ordering is of importance both during the processing of these materials and in their final application. A Monte Carlo simulation of a three dimensional lattice model of an amphiphile and solvent mixture has been developed as an extension of earlier work in two dimensions. In the earlier investigation the simulation was carried out with three segment amphiphiles on a two dimensional lattice and cluster size distributions were determined for a range of temperatures, amphiphile concentrations and intermolecular interaction energies. In the current work, a wider range of structures are observed including micelles, bilayers and a vesicle. The structures are studied as a function of temperature, chain length, amphiphile concentration and intermolecular interaction energies. Clusters are characterised according to their shape, size and surface roughness. A detailed temperature-concentration phase diagram is presented for a system with four segment amphiphiles. The phase diagram shows a critical micelle concentration (c.m.c) at low amphiphile concentrations and a transition from a bicontinuous to lamellar region at amphiphile concentrations around 50%. At high amphiphile concentrations, there is some evidence for the formation of a gel. The results obtained question the validity of current models of the c.m.c. The Monte Carlo simulations require extensive computing power and the simulation was carried out on a transputer array, where the parallel architecture allows high speed. The development of a suitable parallel algorithm is discussed. A mean field model of a bilayer is presented which has similar interaction potentials as the Monte Carlo model. The ordering of the bilayer is examined as a function of chain length, bilayer thickness, temperature and inter molecular interaction energies. In this approximation a phase transition to the ordered bilayer is observed.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Apresentamos um novo cristal liquido liotrópico, onde o álcool (utilizado nas misturas liotrópicas com fases nemáticas biaxial e uniaxiais), é substituído por um detergente. Essa nova mistura é composta por laurato de potássio, cloreto de decilamônia e água e apresenta fases nemáticas uniaxiais, calamitica e discótica, e biaxial. É apresentada uma superfície do diagrama de fases dessa mistura e são determinados alguns parâmetros microscópicos. Nesse estudo são utilizadas as técnicas de microscopia óptica de luz polarizada, conoscopia e difração de raios x. É feito um estudo comparativo da estabilidade química desse sistema, em relação à mistura com álcool. É feito um estudo sistemático das propriedades de ancoramento de cristais líquidos liotrópicos em superfícies de vidro (lisas e com ranhuras), utilizando a técnica de microscopia óptica de luz polarizada. Um novo fenômeno é observado, o deslizamento do diretor na superfície de contorno. Um modelo qualitativo, é proposto, baseado na existência de urna bicamada anfifílica, com defeitos, na interface. São determinados os tempo de orientação e tempo de relaxação para as amostras e os resultados são comparados às previsões do modelo proposto. Também é apresentado um método de tratamento de superfícies de vidro para orientação de cristais líquidos liotrópicos. / We present a new lyotropic liquid crystal, where the alcohol (used in lyotropic mixtures that present biaxial and uniaxial nematic phases) is substituted by a detergent. This new mixture is composed by potassium laurate, ammonium decylchloride and water and presents uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases. A surface of the phase diagram os this mixture is presented and some microscopical parameters are determined. In this investigation the techniques of polarised optical microscopy, conoscopy and X ray- diffraction are used. The chemical stability of this mixture is compared to the mixture with alcohol. The anchoring properties of lyotropic liquid crystals on glass surfaces (smooth and with grooves) are also investigated, using optical polarising microscopy. A new phenomen is observed, the gliding of the director at the boundary surfaces. A qualitative model is proposed, based on the existence of an anphiphilic bilayer with defects, at the interface. The orientation and relaxation times are determined and compared to the ones predicted by the model. It is also presented, a method for treating glass surfaces with ferrofluid that is applied to orient lyotropic liquid crystal samples.

Apresentamos um novo cristal liquido liotrópico, onde o álcool (utilizado nas misturas liotrópicas com fases nemáticas biaxial e uniaxiais), é substituído por um detergente. Essa nova mistura é composta por laurato de potássio, cloreto de decilamônia e água e apresenta fases nemáticas uniaxiais, calamitica e discótica, e biaxial. É apresentada uma superfície do diagrama de fases dessa mistura e são determinados alguns parâmetros microscópicos. Nesse estudo são utilizadas as técnicas de microscopia óptica de luz polarizada, conoscopia e difração de raios x. É feito um estudo comparativo da estabilidade química desse sistema, em relação à mistura com álcool. É feito um estudo sistemático das propriedades de ancoramento de cristais líquidos liotrópicos em superfícies de vidro (lisas e com ranhuras), utilizando a técnica de microscopia óptica de luz polarizada. Um novo fenômeno é observado, o deslizamento do diretor na superfície de contorno. Um modelo qualitativo, é proposto, baseado na existência de urna bicamada anfifílica, com defeitos, na interface. São determinados os tempo de orientação e tempo de relaxação para as amostras e os resultados são comparados às previsões do modelo proposto. Também é apresentado um método de tratamento de superfícies de vidro para orientação de cristais líquidos liotrópicos. / We present a new lyotropic liquid crystal, where the alcohol (used in lyotropic mixtures that present biaxial and uniaxial nematic phases) is substituted by a detergent. This new mixture is composed by potassium laurate, ammonium decylchloride and water and presents uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases. A surface of the phase diagram os this mixture is presented and some microscopical parameters are determined. In this investigation the techniques of polarised optical microscopy, conoscopy and X ray- diffraction are used. The chemical stability of this mixture is compared to the mixture with alcohol. The anchoring properties of lyotropic liquid crystals on glass surfaces (smooth and with grooves) are also investigated, using optical polarising microscopy. A new phenomen is observed, the gliding of the director at the boundary surfaces. A qualitative model is proposed, based on the existence of an anphiphilic bilayer with defects, at the interface. The orientation and relaxation times are determined and compared to the ones predicted by the model. It is also presented, a method for treating glass surfaces with ferrofluid that is applied to orient lyotropic liquid crystal samples.

Incorporating nanotechnology into polymers has tremendous potential to improve the functionality and performance of polymer materials for use in a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. This research uses lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) to control polymer structure on the nanometer scale in order to improve material properties. The overall goal of this research is to establish fundamental methods of synthesizing polymers with controlled nanostructured architectures in order to understand and utilize useful property relationships that result from the organized polymer morphologies. This work aims to establish a fundamental understanding of the reaction conditions needed to control polymer nanostructure and determine the benefits of organized polymer network structures on mechanical and transport properties. The synthesis of nanostructured polymers for improved material performance has utilized LLCs and photopolymerization kinetics to direct polymer structure. Self-assembled LLC phases provide a useful template that may be used as a photopolymerization platform to control polymer morphology on the nanometer size scale. Photopolymerization kinetics were used as a tool to examine the thermodynamics and phase structure evolution that occurs during the polymerization reaction. Additionally, several methods were developed to control polymer morphology and prevent loss of LLC order that can occur during polymerization. LLCs were also used to generate nanocomposite polymers with two distinct polymer networks to impart improvements in material properties. Other useful property relationships including increases in mechanical integrity, greater diffusive transport, and larger water uptake were established in this research. Finally, the LLC templating process was applied to solve performance problems associated with stimuli-sensitive polymer materials. Dramatic improvements in the response rate, dynamic range, and mechanical properties were achieved using LLCs and photopolymerization to control polymer nanostructure. This work has established fundamental tools that can be used to understand and control the evolution of polymer structure during the polymerization reaction in order to improve polymer properties. Ultimately, the enhanced properties generated by the nanostructured polymer network can be used to improve the functionality of polymers.