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Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared from thermal polymerisation-induced phase separation in heat-curable monomers/nematic liquid crystal (LC) mixtures. For PDLCs with a certain amount of LCs, the microstructure and the refractive index of polymer networks could be influenced by the relative content of epoxy monomers, owing to their different chemical structures. The effect of these factors on the electro-optic properties of films was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bandwidth-controllable reflective gel has been investigated from photo- and thermally-induced processes. Due to the pitch of cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) composite increasing as the temperature rises, the CLC with short pitch is frozen by UV-curing the polymer network at low temperature and the CLC with long pitch is fixed by heat curing the polymer network at high temperature. A non-uniform pitch distribution of CLCs forms in the gel when temperature becomes low. It is demonstrated that the memory effect of the polymer network is an important mechanism for the resulting gel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared by photochemical polymerisation from an ultraviolet-curable monomer/crosslinking agent/initiator/liquid crystal (LC) mixture. The influences of the chain length of crosslinking agents on the PDLC system have been studied. The microstructures of the PDLC films were strongly influenced by the chain length of the crosslinker, which in turn influences the electro-optic properties of PDLC films. It is proved that adjusting the chain length of the crosslinking agents and the LC content can produce PDLC films that have good electro-optic properties with a lower LC content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]