Fractal Features Grown from Isotropic Melt of a Cholesterol Liquid Crystal

Abstract

Fractal features of branch-like structures grown from isotropic melt of a cholesterol liquid crystal were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry, polarized optical microscope and computer-aided simulation, respectively. With box-counting method, we have calculated the fractal dimension to be about 2.558-2.604 for the branch-like aggregates. Our growth simulation and the calculated value of the fractal dimension suggests that the cluster-cluster aggregation model can be applied to the growing processes of branch-like structures from isotropic melt of a cholesterol liquid crystal.