Ordering kinetics of a conserved binary mixture with a nematic liquid crystal component

A numerical study on the phase separation and ordering kinetics of a binary mixture of a nematic liquid crystal and a flexible polymer modeled with a Ginzburg-Landau free energy is presented. The system couples a generalized Cahn-Hilliard equation, which incorporates the nematic elastic energy as well as mixing, with a de Gennes-Prost evolution equation for the liquid crystal's director field. The effects of the liquid crystal micro-structure on the phase separation and morphology dynamics during spinodal decomposition is investigated numerically in two dimensions. It is found that the orientational distortion of the director field induced by interfacial anchoring dramatically affects both the morphology, the ordering kinetics of the binary mixture, and the coarsening rate.