Critical behavior of the bend elastic constant of a liquid crystalline comblike polymer near the nematic–smectic A phase transition

The temperature dependence of the bending elastic constant of a combined comblike side- and main-chain liquid crystalline polymer near the nematic–smectic A phase transition was investigated. The bending constant K₃ diverges at the transition, but the critical exponent ν = 1.4 does not agree with the theoretical prediction. The large value of the exponent ν may be explained by the polydispersity of the polymer investigated.