Abstract
A theory of fracture in spatially varying anisotropic glass is developed to interpret electron micrographs of freeze-fractured surfaces of cholesteric samples. The expression for energy per unit area released by crack formation is [n(1+bQ1)n]12, where Q1 is the traceless Landau tensor for unit order parameter and n is a unit vector normal to the crack surface. The two parameters of the theory are b, which is a function of the ratio of length to width of molecule, and a crack-precursor length. Contours closely matching those observed in the laminar cholesteric texture and in blue phase I are generated.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1737-1740 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1986 |