Phase diagrams of lyotropic cholesteric fluids
Experimental investigations of lyotropic cholesterics fluids are presented which show that changes in the shape anisotropy and chirality of the micellar population determine the topology of the temperature-concentration phase diagrams. For given amounts of the substances which induce the chirality and modify the shape anisotropy of the micelles, two distinct biaxial cholesteric phases are disclosed in the phase diagrams. This is interpreted in the framework of the catastrophe theory of phase transitions.
Toledano
P
Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Caixa Postal 66318, 05315-970, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Figueiredo Neto AM
de Sant'Ana ZA