Hierarchical Structures in Liquid Crystalline Polymers

Abstract

AbstractIt is well known that the structure of highly oriented liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) can be characterized by a hierarchical fibrillar structural model. Structure models were developed for the lyotropic aramid fibers and the thermotropic aromatic copolyester fibers during the last two decades showing the existence of fibrillar hierarchies. Hierarchies of structure have also been commonly observed for the biological materials. Concepts learned from the latter are useful in materials science studies today. The nature of the smallest nanostructure that aggregates, the combination of these small structures, typically microfibrils, into larger structures and the interaction of these hierarchical entities are important to understanding their behavior. The architecture of the whole of the polymer or the biological material is a further important variable as is the relation of the process with that architecture. This paper discusses details of the structure of LCPs and draws an analogy between the materials science and biological hierarchies.