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A novel reversible cluster-cluster aggregation model in the context of Monte Carlo simulation is developed. The effects of the interface between liquid crystal and polymer on the thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) in the polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) systems are investigated. It is found that the energy barrier due to the interface helps to reduce the chance of collision among the liquid crystal clusters, thereby increasing the size uniformity of these clusters. The results also reveal that gravity significantly decreases the size uniformity of the liquid crystal clusters, especially when the interfacial strength ϵi between liquid crystal and polymer is small.

A Monte Carlo simulation method was used to study the phase separation process in a liquid crystal-polymer system, and in particular to examine the mechanism of phase separation as a function of quench temperature and concentration of liquid crystal (c). It was found that the phase separation and subsequent growth of the new phases proceed via nucleation in the case of c = 0.20. However, in the case of c = 0.50, spinodal decomposition is the main process. The critical temperature was estimated to be γ c = ϵ kT c = 1.5 . The results also show that the phase separation takes place at relatively early time, i.e., about t = 107 Monte Carlo steps (MCS).