Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystal Polymers Held in New Lond, New Hampshire on 9-13 July 1984
Abstract
The field of liquid crystal, LC, polymers is now almost thirty years old if it can be considered to have begun in 1956 with the theories of Flory on solutions of rigid-rod polymers and the observation of the lyotropic behavior of concentrated solutions of poly(benzyl-L-glutamate) in the laboratories of Courtaulds Ltd. in the same year. The observations of lyotropic behavior of solutions of aromatic polyamides in the du Pont laboratories in the late 1960s, which led to the development of the Kevlar fiber, undoubtedly provided the greatest stimulus to this field. While thermotropic aromatic polyesters were prepared in the laboratories of the ICI Company at about the same time, the potential for their application in fibers was probably not recognized until the early 1970s. At about that time, investigations on the application of aromatic polyesters for molded plastics, which were liquid crystalline in the melt state, were also begun at the Carborundum Co. and the Tennessee Eastman Co. Hence, the field of thermotropic polymers is only about ten years old, but in the last five years or so there has been an explosion in interest and the activity on such polymers. (KR)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 15, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA215021
Entities
People
- Robert W. Lenz
Organizations
- University of Massachusetts Amherst