Non-Newtonian rheological properties of shearing nematic liquid crystal model systems based on the Gay–Berne potential

Abstract

The viscosities and normal stress differences of various liquid crystal model systems based on the Gay–Berne potential have been obtained as functions of the shear rate in the non-Newtonian regime. Various molecular shapes such as regular convex calamitic and discotic ellipsoids and non-convex shapes such as bent core molecules and soft ellipsoid strings have been examined. The isotropic phases were found to be shear thinning with the shear rate dependence of the viscosity following a power law in the same way as alkanes and other non-spherical molecules. The nematic phases turned out to be shear thinning but the logarithm of the viscosity proved to be an approximately linear function of the square root of the shear rate. The normal stress differences were found to display a more or less parabolic dependence on the shear rate in the isotropic phase whereas this dependence was linear at low to intermediate shear rates in the nematic phase.