Phase behaviour of nematic liquid crystal/linear polymer systems: Applicability of the extended Flory‐Huggins theory

Phase behaviour of nematic liquid crystals (N‐(p‐ethoxybenzylidene)‐p‐butylaniline and N‐(p‐methoxybenzylidene)‐p‐butylaniline) in linear polystyrene are investigated by thermo‐optical analysis. Results are compared to the model based on the extended Flory‐Huggins equation. The model used in this work includes two adjustable model parameters (d₀, d₁). The proposed semi‐empirical model gives a very good agreement with new data obtained for liquid crystal and polystyrene systems.