The nature of prolate shape of tactoids in lyotropic inorganic liquid crystals

A tactoid phase is obtained, which is an anisotropic mesophase dispersed in an anisotropic solution. A model is constructed that describes the shape of anisotropic regions, i.e., tactoids. It is demonstrated that the prolate shape of tactoids is caused by the competition between the elastic energy of the nematic phase and the surface energy. This model is used to find the ratio of elastic constants K-3/K-1 from the experimental data. It is experimentally found that a magnetic field orients and stretches tactoids. An explanation of this phenomenon is suggested. (C) 2002 MAIK Nauka / Interperiodica.