Orientation Control of Blue Phase and Hardness Measurement

Abstract

The blue phase is a liquid crystal phase that appears between a chiral nematic phase and an isotropic phase, and is characterized by spontaneously forming a ternary periodic structure. Because this structure is similar to rodent teeth, plastics using blue phase are expected to have high hardness. Domain boundary in the case of non-uniform orientation causes hardness reduction. It improve the mechanical properties of Blue Phase by uniform orientation of phase. In this research, Labing effect was evaluated by the polarization microscope observation for each thickness by changing the thickness of the cell subjected to rubbing treatment. On the day, the hardness is also evaluated by the Nano-indentation method.