Rapid viscous flow of a nematic liquid crystal in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> transition

The resistance to shear flow is investigated theoretically for polar liquid crystals, such as 4-n-octyl-4′-and 4-n-octyloxy-4′-cyanobiphenyls. It is established that the lowest resistance to shear flow at temperatures in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic A phase transition point T _NA is observed when the nematic director is oriented perpendicular to both the flow velocity vector and the flow velocity gradient. The three Miesowicz shear viscosity coefficients η_i (i=1–3) at temperatures close to the phase transition temperature (tens of millikelvins from T _NA ) and far from this transition are calculated in the framework of the Ericksen-Leslie theory. The decrease in the viscosity coefficients in the order η₂>η₁>η ₃ is explained by the fact that fluctuations of the local smectic order in the nematic phase lead to a singular behavior of the viscosity coefficient η₂, whereas the other two viscosity coefficients η₁ and η₃ are not affected by order parameter fluctuations.