6533b863fe1ef96bd12c7825
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Interfacial tension of the isotropic-nematic interface in suspensions of soft spherocylinders.
Richard L. C. VinkTanja Schillingsubject
Materials scienceCondensed matter physicsIsotropy: Physics [G04] [Physical chemical mathematical & earth Sciences]FOS: Physical sciencesCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed MatterCondensed Matter::Soft Condensed MatterSurface tensionClassical mechanics: Physique [G04] [Physique chimie mathématiques & sciences de la terre]Liquid crystalSoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)Probability distributionElongationParticle densityGrand canonical monte carlodescription
The isotropic to nematic transition in a system of soft spherocylinders is studied by means of grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The probability distribution of the particle density is used to determine the coexistence density of the isotropic and the nematic phases. The distributions are also used to compute the interfacial tension of the isotropic--nematic interface, including an analysis of finite size effects. Our results confirm that the Onsager limit is not recovered until for very large elongation, exceeding at least L/D=40, with L the spherocylinder length and D the diameter. For smaller elongation, we find that the interfacial tension increases with increasing L/D, in agreement with theoretical predictions.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-02-18 | Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics |