Liquid crystalline block and graft copolymers

Since the first reports on the combination of liquid crystalline polymers in block (1985) and graft (1986) copolymers with amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers, the scientific interest has been focused on understanding how the size and type of the mesophase displayed by the liquid crystalline part(s) affects the LC --> isotropic transition and the order in the LC domains themselves with respect to the morphology displayed. An overview of the work that has been done so far will be given, as well as a closer discussion of the interaction between morphology and LC phase behavior as evaluated on a large number of very well defined LC side group block copolymers. Furthermore, applications and results of mechanical and optical investigations are discussed.