3C05 液流ラビングとポリイミドの配向増幅効果を応用した新規液晶配向制御法

抄録

The uniform alignment of liquid crystal (LC) molecules is generally produced by a surface-induced alignment technique of a polymer surface. However, the conventional rubbing technique involves a serious problem that an electrostatic charge and dust are generated during mechanical friction by rubbing. In this study, a novel liquid crystal alignment technique was investigated in order to realize electrostatic charge- and dust-free on the polyimide surface. A uniform alignment of LC was obtained by using the polyimide surface which was exposed to unidirectionally flowing water at 348 K before imidization by thermal cure. The surface-induced alignment effect was not sufficient in the case of exposing the polyimide surface to the water flow after the thermal imidization. The local chain orientation on the polyimide precursor surface induced by exposing to the water flow and its amplification of the chain orientation by the thermal imidization is a possible mechanism of "water flow rubbing".