Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1400300 | European Polymer Journal | 2006 | 10 Pages |
The synthesis of new side-chain cholesteric elastomers derived from a cholesteric monomer and mesogenic crosslinking agent is presented. The chemical structures of the monomers obtained were confirmed by elemental analyses, FT-IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR. The mesomorphic properties and thermal stability were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), polarizing optical microscopy (POM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. M1 showed cholesteric phase, and M2 displayed enantiotropic nematic phase and monotropic smectic phase. The elastomers containing less than 12 mol% of the crosslinking units revealed reversible mesomorphic phase transition, wide mesophase temperature ranges, and high thermal stability.