JPH036291A - High molecular liquid crystal composition and high molecular liquid crystal element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high-molecular liquid crystal composition which facilitates recording in good gradation by dispersing at least two high molecular liquid crystal compounds which are immiscible with one another and differ in at least either phase transition point or glass transition point. CONSTITUTION:At least two high molecular liquid crystal compounds which are immiscible with one another and differ in at least either phase transition point or glass transition point are dispersed to give a high molecular liquid crystal composition which facilitates recording in good gradation. A solution of liquid crystal compounds of formula I (wherein (n) is 5) and formula II, each in an amount of 1 pt.wt., in dichloroethane is applied to a 100mum-thick polyester film and dried to form a 10mum-thick recording layer. The resulting high molecular liquid crystal element has good haze values of 95 and 40 as measured with a haze meter at 50 and 100 deg.C, respectively. When this element is further dried at 100 deg.C for 2hr and at 50 deg.C for 2hr and recording is conducted thereon with a thermal head, the pulse width of an applied current is 5 and 10msec, respectively, thus enabling a two-valued display.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording element using a polymeric liquid crystal compound,
In particular, the present invention relates to a polymer liquid crystal composition and a polymer liquid crystal element suitable for thermally erasing records.

[Prior Art] Traditionally, video output from televisions and VTRs and output from interactions with computers have been output and displayed on CRT (cathode ray tube) and TN (twisted nematic) liquid crystal display monitors, and have been output and displayed on WP (word processors) and A high-definition image of a document 1 figure etc. by facsimile etc. has been output and displayed on vapor as a printed hard copy.

However, although CRTs output beautiful images when outputting moving images, they have the disadvantage that flickers and scanning stripes due to insufficient resolution reduce visibility when it comes to images that remain stationary for a long time.

In addition, although conventional liquid crystal displays such as the above-mentioned TN liquid crystal have achieved thinner devices, they require manufacturing effort such as sandwiching the liquid crystal between a pair of glass substrates, and the screen may be dark. There was a problem.

Furthermore, CRT and TN liquid crystals do not have stable image memory even while outputting the above-mentioned still images.
There are drawbacks such as the need to constantly access the beam and pixel voltage.

In contrast, the images output to vapor are high-definition,
In addition, although stable memory images can be obtained, if a large number of them are used, it takes space to organize them, and if a large quantity is discarded, resources are wasted.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, display media using polymeric liquid crystals have been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 154340-1982 and 62-66.
990, JP 62-14114, JP 62-278530, JP 62-278529
It has been reported in the No.

These devices perform recording using a thermal head, laser beam, etc., but there is a problem in that it is difficult to perform the gradation control necessary for two-way display.

Regarding such problems, Japanese Patent Application No. 62-336128 and Japanese Patent Application No. 63-978082 have been proposed as gradation display methods.

Japanese Patent Application No. 63-090332 and Japanese Patent Application No. 62-318929 have been proposed, and gradation display is possible using a laser beam and a thermal head.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional example described above, gradation display is performed by controlling the temperature of the recording layer containing polymer liquid crystal, but it is difficult to control the temperature and holding time or cooling rate. Because of the need for a thermal head or laser, there was a drawback that the control of the light was complicated. Also, if the recording layer or protective layer containing polymer liquid crystal is thick, it is necessary to display a single gradation. control became even more difficult.

Furthermore, when an electric field is used to control the recording layer, gradation display is performed using the slope of the threshold voltage.

This method has an undesirable drawback in that the response speed of the polymer liquid crystal is slow, and the display speed further decreases when gradation display is performed.

The present invention has been made in order to improve the shortcomings of the prior art, and provides a polymer liquid crystal composition and a polymer liquid crystal element that can easily record good gradation in a product. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, the present invention is characterized by comprising two or more types of polymeric liquid crystal compounds that are mutually incompatible and differ in at least one of a glass phase transition temperature and a glass transition temperature. It is a polymeric liquid crystal composition.

Furthermore, 5 the present invention provides a polymer liquid crystal composition in which a recording layer is a polymer liquid crystal composition in which two or more types of polymer liquid crystal compounds are dispersed, which are incompatible with each other and have at least one of a glass phase transition temperature and a glass transition temperature. The device is a polymeric liquid crystal device, characterized in that each separated region formed by an incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compound of the recording layer has a recording cross-sectional area of 11111” or less.

The present invention will be explained in detail below.

According to the present invention, in an image forming medium using two or more kinds of polymer liquid crystal compounds that are incompatible with each other and differ in at least one of phase transition temperature and glass transition temperature, these polymer liquid crystal compounds are microscopically mixed. Good gradation characteristics can be obtained by using a recording layer made of a polymeric liquid crystal composition obtained by mixing a polymeric liquid crystal composition, or a recording layer obtained by patterning these polymeric liquid crystals in a planar or random arrangement. This is how it was done.

The polymeric liquid crystal compounds used in the present invention are different in at least one of phase transition temperature and glass transition temperature, and the following phase transitions are used.

■ Nematic phase □ Tokiyoshi phase ■ Smectic phase □ Nematic phase ■ Smectic phase □ Tokiyoshi phase ■ Crystal Nematic phase ■ Crystal Smectic phase Note that the nematic phase and the smectic phase may be a chiral nematic phase and a chiral smectic phase, respectively.

Furthermore, the glass transition temperature is preferably at least room temperature, but may be at room temperature or lower if it has a smectic phase or chiral smectic phase. When the polymer liquid crystal compound of the present invention has a glass transition temperature below room temperature, it is used by sandwiching the polymer liquid crystal compound of the present invention between a pair of substrates.

In the present invention, the polymer liquid crystal compounds that are incompatible with each other are given by having different phases at the same temperature, but even when they have the same phase, the chemical structures of the polymer liquid crystal compounds are different. Incompatible products are obtained. Examples of polymeric liquid crystal compounds that have chemical structures that are incompatible with each other include, but are not limited to, the following.

■Polyester main chain polymer liquid crystal ■Polyether main chain polymer liquid crystal ■Polysiloxane main chain polymer liquid crystal ■Vinyl side chain polymer liquid crystal ■Polysiloxane side chain polymer liquid crystal ■Polymer Ether-based side-chain polymer liquid crystal ■Polyester-based side-chain polymer liquid crystal More specifically, the following polymer liquid crystal compounds are used in combination.

(In the following formulas (1) to (13), Is>n≧1.) (6) (7) (8) (3) (4) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13 ) (In the following formulas (!4) to (17), p=5 to 1000°+p, = 5 to tooo.

q = l ~ 1G.

<ll= L~IS.

Qt-1~16 It is.

(In the following formulas (18) to (4), * indicates the asymmetric carbon Φ-center show, n=5 to 1000.

Cl-1゜C11゜( →CH, -C→" Q-(CI(Jq-11(toCtoC11゜(111=2
~10) (21) CH3 (recommendation=2~l5) (23) (s,=2~15) (-,=2~15) (29) (25) (recommendation=2~tS) (26) ( Seal, =2~15) (1□=2~15) (GoO) (31) (32) (33) (■, =2~15.x+y=1) CIl.

R, = -CIl, CIl, CH-+ C11, → -R
,--+C11,-)- (x+y=L, Maro,=2~15) (38) (39) (x+y=1) C11゜Rz=-CIIxCH-+CHt→-R,-6co,
→- (x+y=1, m*=2~l5) (x+y=1.Ko=2~15) (37) (phantom is 1~5) (41) (42) (4 pieces) (44) (S ,=O~5) (45) (45) (47) (18) (53) (54) (55) (49) (50) (5ri (below).

II (, is 1 to 18) (52) (56) C1)1 (57) (58) C1x"5~!8) (59) (60) C1(.

C11° (β2=5-18) Among these polymeric liquid crystal compounds, those whose glass transition point is above room temperature have the property of maintaining their structural state at a temperature below the glass transition point, so for example, , the following recording modes are possible:

Liquid crystal phase polydomain state ←→ Isotropic phase state (light scattering state)
(first non-scattering state to transparent state Ig4) This recording mode is as follows: 2. First, the liquid crystal phase of the polymeric liquid crystal compound is maintained in a polydomain state consisting of many domains (domains). After heating the polymeric liquid crystal compound as described above, recording is performed by rapidly cooling the polymeric liquid crystal compound to a temperature below the glass transition point to maintain the polymeric liquid crystal compound in an isotonic phase state.

The recording area can be returned to its initial polydomain state by heating the polymeric liquid crystal compound to a temperature close to the temperature at which it exhibits an isotokic phase and then slowly cooling it. Further, the light scattering state and the transparent state can be reversed to set the recording mode.

In addition, a recording mode 2 that uses the magnitude of light scattering intensity and birefringence due to changes in the oriented state and non-oriented state, such as the thermo-optic effect of the smectic phase similar to that used in conventional low-molecular liquid crystals, is used. Furthermore, a recording mode using changes in the horizontal-vertical alignment state can also be used.

The present invention is characterized in that two or more of these polymeric liquid crystal compounds are used in combination.

This combination method can be roughly divided into the following two types.

(2) A polymer liquid crystal element can be obtained by mixing two or more types of polymer liquid crystal compounds to prepare a polymer liquid crystal composition in which each of them is dispersed in the form of fine particles, and using this composition as a recording layer. In this case, it is preferable that the recording cross-sectional area of the dispersed polymeric liquid crystal compound is 1 mm'' or less in the form of fine particles.

The mixing ratio of each of the two polymer liquid crystal compounds is preferably 5 to 95 wt%, preferably 10 to 90 wt% of at least one type of polymer liquid crystal compound.

When it is less than 5wL% and exceeds 95wt%, not only the compatibility becomes high but also the gradation characteristics are deteriorated.

(2) It is possible to obtain a polymer liquid crystal element having a recording layer in which two or more types of polymer liquid crystal compounds are patterned in an array or a random array in the plane direction.

However, in the present invention, when the polymeric liquid crystal compounds are incompatible and have different liquid crystal phases, at least one
Although this includes the case where different types exist, selecting different liquid crystal phases of polymeric liquid crystal compounds that are incompatible in both cases (■ and ■) is a method that depends on the optical properties ( For example, since differences in light scattering properties can be used, gradation recording can be performed more easily than when using the same liquid crystal phase.

In the present invention, it is also possible to add a low-molecular liquid crystal compound to a high-molecular liquid crystal compound. The proportion of the low-molecular liquid crystal compound used is 30 wt% or less, and 30 wt%
Exceeding this is not preferable because the glass transition point will be lowered and the compatibility will be improved.

In addition, coloring materials such as dyes or pigments can be added to the polymeric liquid crystal compound as additives such as ultraviolet absorbers, antioxidants, and nucleating agents, and as light absorbers for heating by light irradiation. . Furthermore, a coloring material may be introduced in a form that is chemically bonded to a polymeric liquid crystal compound, such as a compound in which the chemical structure of the coloring material is copolymerized with the side chain of a side chain type polymeric liquid crystal compound. is possible. In either case, it is preferable to add or introduce coloring materials and additives within a range that does not significantly affect the liquid crystallinity or phase transition temperature of the polymeric liquid crystal compound.

An example of a polymer liquid crystal element using the methods (1) and (2) will be described below.

In (2), it is necessary to disperse the incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compound.Dispersion methods include a method in which the polymeric liquid crystal compound is uniformly dissolved in a solvent and coated on the substrate, and a normal dispersion method. For example, a method of dispersing using an attritor, a ball mill, a roll mill, a homogenizer, a screw mixer, a static mixer, etc. is used.

More preferably, the size of the region is such that the recording cross-sectional area of the dispersed polymeric liquid crystal compound is 1 ms" or less, preferably 10-8
~0.5m2. If it is less than 10-'mu'', it will be difficult to record based on optical characteristics, and if it exceeds 1 am'', only insufficient gradation characteristics will be obtained.

Further, the dispersed polymeric liquid crystal compound may be in the form of particles, but it may also be in the form of a plane, and in particular, it may be in the form of a single layer as shown in (3).

FIG. 8 shows a polymer liquid crystal device in the case of (■).

A recording layer 102 made of the polymeric liquid crystal composition of the present invention is formed on a substrate 101 made of a glass plate, a plastic plate, or a plastic film. The thickness of the recording layer is from IH to 100 mm, and if it is less than Igi+, the optical density is insufficient, which is undesirable, and more preferably from 3 to 20 mm. Regions 103 made of incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compounds are dispersed. Furthermore, a protective layer 1 is provided on the recording layer 102.
04 is provided.

As the protective layer, polysiloxane-based, fluorine-based, epoxy-based resins, etc. are used.

Further, in the polymer liquid crystal element of the present invention shown in FIG. 9, a transparent electrode 202 is formed on a substrate 201 made of a glass plate, a plastic plate, or the like in a plane or in a predetermined pattern.

On the substrate 201 provided with such a transparent electrode 202.

For example - silicon oxide, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide,
Inorganic insulating materials such as zirconia, magnesium fluoride, cerium oxide, cerium fluoride, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, boron nitride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyimide, polyamideimide, polyesterimide, polyparaxylerin, polyester, polycarbonate,
polyvinyl acetal, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide,
The alignment control film 203 may be formed using an organic insulating material such as polystyrene, cellulose resin, melamine resin, urea resin, or acrylic resin.

This orientation control film 203 is obtained by forming a film of the above-mentioned inorganic insulating material or organic insulating material and then rubbing the surface in one direction with velvet, cloth, or paper.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the alignment control film 203 can be obtained by forming a film of an inorganic insulating material such as 10 or 5if2 on the substrate 201 by oblique vapor deposition.

In another specific example, after forming a film of the above-mentioned inorganic insulating material or organic insulating material on the surface of the substrate 201 made of glass or plastic or on the substrate 201, the surface of the film is etched by an oblique etching method. This makes it possible to impart a direction control effect to the surface.

It is preferable that the above-mentioned orientation control film 203 also function as an insulating film, and for this purpose, this orientation control film 203 is used. 12
The film thickness of 03 is generally 100 people to 1 room, preferably 5
It can be set in the range of 00 to 5000 people. This insulating layer also has the advantage of being able to prevent the generation of current caused by trace amounts of impurities contained in the recording layer 204, and therefore does not deteriorate the liquid crystal compound even if the operation is repeated.

In addition, in the polymer liquid crystal element of the present invention, methods for ensuring zero molecular alignment that can be sandwiched using substrates provided with the same alignment control films as described above include -axis stretching, biaxial stretching, A stretching method such as inflation stretching or rearrangement by shearing is preferred. Those that do not have film properties and are difficult to stretch when used alone can be co-stretched by sandwiching them into a film to obtain a desired orientation.

As other orientation methods, orientation using an electric field or magnetic field, orientation using shearing, etc. can be used.

On the other hand, in case (2), it is necessary to pattern the incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compound in the plane direction. Patterning can be done by coating a solution of each polymeric liquid crystal compound dissolved in an appropriate solvent using a printing method, or by pulverizing each polymeric liquid crystal compound into particles of the desired size and then applying the solution uniformly. The powder mixture is blended and coated in a layer on a substrate by electrostatic coating or the like, and then baking is achieved by processing.

In case (2), it is possible to obtain a recording layer in which the glass transition point and phase transition point of each patterned polymer liquid crystal compound are in approximately the same temperature range; By making the temperature ranges in which the liquid crystal phase is different from each other, it becomes possible to perform selective recording on the patterned polymeric liquid crystal compound.

Examples of this method include the following method.

The temperature range showing the liquid crystal phase of the polymeric liquid crystal compound used for different patterns is made different,
This method selects between transparent and light scattering depending on the temperature conditions of rapid cooling and slow cooling. That is, in FIG. 1(a), the polymer liquid crystal used in the different patterns (■) and (■) is A.

B, and the glass transition point of A and B and the isokyoshi phase transition point (TgA
, Tcj! A, Tg', TeR') are shown in Figure 1 (
Suppose that the relationship is as shown in b). When the initial states of patterns ■ and ■ are both maintained in the light scattering (liquid crystal polydomain) state, TcI! in the region containing patterns ■ and ■ is maintained. ”
After heating above, when rapidly cooled below τgA, pattern ■,
■ Both are maintained in a transparent (same labor minister) state. Subsequently, by heating the pattern to a temperature of TCRA or more and Tg7 or less, and then gradually cooling it to TgA or less, only the pattern (2) can be returned to the light scattering state.

On the other hand, when both patterns ■ and ■ are in the light scattering state, TcRA
After heating to Tg or more and 7 or less a or less, and then rapidly cooling to TgA or less, only pattern (2) can be made transparent.

Also, Tci! After heating to the above temperature, if the temperature is gradually cooled to 7 gA or less, both patterns ① and ② can be brought into a light scattering state.

By combining the light scattering states of these patterns (1) and (2), and by making the liquid crystal phases of patterns (2) and (2) nematic and smectic, respectively.

A gradation as shown in FIG. 1(c) is obtained.

TgA in this Figure 1(b), Tcj! A, TgB
, Tcj? 'The relationship between two polymer liquid crystal compounds A,
This is the case when the liquid crystal phase humidity regions of H are completely separated, but not completely separated, that is, Tcl^>T
g'<7), it is sufficient that the two liquid crystal temperature ranges are separated at actual purchase by TcR''>
Even if B is heated to a slightly higher temperature than Tel^ when B is maintained in the equi-bisque phase state, there is no problem because the optical properties are unlikely to change because the viscosity of B is high near Tga.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing an example of gradation recording of the polymer liquid crystal composition of the present invention. It can be seen from FIG. 10 that almost continuous gradation recording can be obtained.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Bis(4'-probyloxybenzoic acid)-2-methoxy-
1,4-phenylene ester 0.1 mof! and l,
1. , 3.

3.5,5-hexamethyltrisiloxane 0.15oj
) was added to the dry THF solution of H, PtC1)8 catalyst.
The reaction was carried out at 0°C. After 24 hours, it was taken out and purified by GPC to obtain a polymer liquid crystal represented by the following structural formula (m).

n=5 (n) Next, 1 part by weight of a polymer liquid crystal compound represented by the following structural formula (rV) and the polymer liquid crystal compound (m) were added and dissolved in dichloroethane.

A recording layer was formed by coating on a 100 gm thick polyester film using a bar coater and drying.

The thickness of the recording layer is determined by 10 degrees.

CH.

When measured with a meter, the haze degree was 95 and 4, respectively.
A good value of 0 was obtained.

Furthermore, when we recorded the polymer liquid crystal element heat-treated at 100°C for 2 hours and at 50°C for 2 hours using thermal heating, the pulse width of the applied current was 5 tasec and 101 sec.
A good binary indication was that it was oily.

Example 2 Polymer liquid crystal compound (I) (IV) represented by the following structural formulas (r) and (II) This polymer liquid crystal element was heated to a haze of H3 (H) 45@C100°C at 50°C and 100°C. g->S->Iso.

After pulverizing each, polymer liquid crystal particles with a number average particle diameter of 8 ILm were obtained by classifying. After uniformly blending the two types of particles, use the static 'rlL coating method. 11
A single layer coating was carried out on a 00p thick polyester sheet.

Next, by passing this between Teflon (registered trademark) rollers while heating it to 150°C, the polymer liquid crystal particles are pressed and baked onto the polyester sheet, resulting in two types of particles as shown in Figure 2. We created a polymer liquid crystal device with randomly arranged polymer liquid crystal patterns. An image was recorded on the obtained polymer liquid crystal element using an apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG.

Initially, all polymer liquid crystal patterns are placed in a light-scattering state. Thermal head ■ and ■ (thermal head 3.3')
was used as shown in Table 1 below, and the polymer liquid crystal pattern was selectively changed to a transparent state in accordance with the image signal.

Table Also, rapid cooling and slow cooling using the thermal head were controlled by controlling the voltage pulses applied to the thermal head. Specifically, (a) thermal head ■
, (U) and thermal head (8) are shown in FIG. 4.

When the turbidity of the polymer liquid crystal element was measured after the operations (a) to (:), (a) io, (α) 45, (c) 32.
(d) 7 digits, :jS When display was performed using an apparatus having the configuration shown in Figure 5, it was possible to display four gradations.

The image could be erased by heating the entire surface of the polymer liquid crystal pattern to 150° C. or higher and then slowly cooling it to 45° C. or lower. Further, even after image formation and erasing were repeated 1000 times, image formation could be performed well, and two types of polymer liquid crystal patterns were not mixed.

Example 3 Polymer liquid crystal compound 10 represented by the following structural formula (V)
0 parts by weight and H3 (V) Laser absorbing dye 1 represented by the following structural formula (vI)
Part by weight (C2H, 1)2N-@”@-N(C2)15)2CR
After dissolving O,e (Vr) in dichloroethane, only the solvent was removed by drying under reduced pressure to obtain a polymer liquid crystal composition (2).

Furthermore, a polymer liquid crystal composition (2) consisting of 100 ji parts by weight of a polymer liquid crystal compound represented by the following structural formula (W), (Vff) and i parts by weight of the laser absorbing dye (vr) was prepared in the same manner.

By crushing and classifying each of the two types of polymer liquid crystal compositions in the same manner as in Example 2, the number average particle size was 8t.
A polymer liquid crystal element having the structure shown in FIG. 6 was obtained by electrostatically coating, pressing and baking these particles onto a polyester sheet having a thickness of 100 mm.

An image was recorded on the obtained polymer liquid crystal device using the apparatus shown in FIG.

First, both the polymer liquid crystal patterns ① and ② on the polymer liquid crystal element were put in a light scattering state (500n layer transmittance 20%),
Into this, a semiconductor laser beam with an ax of 830 nm and an output of ZO-W is applied with a pulse width of 200 g 5 ec and a spot diameter of 10
When irradiated according to the image signal at 0 μ-, both of the 0.02 types of polymer liquid crystal patterns were heated to the isobathic phase and then rapidly cooled, changing to a light transmitting state. (500
n-ho transmittance 80%) Also included wax 830rv,
When semiconductor laser light with an output of 1:lsW was irradiated in the same manner, only the polymer liquid crystal pattern (2) could be changed to a light-transmitting state. (500nm transmittance 50%)
When the recorded polymer liquid crystal element was projected onto a screen using an overhead projector, it was possible to display halftones.

The image can be erased by heating the entire polymer liquid crystal pattern to 130°C and then slowly cooling it, as in Example 2. Even after recording and erasing 1000 times, the polymer liquid crystal patterns remain compatible. It didn't happen.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a polymeric liquid crystal composition in which two or more types of polymeric liquid crystal compounds are dispersed, which are incompatible with each other and have at least one of a phase transition temperature and a glass transition temperature different from each other. By using a recording layer made of a material or a recording layer patterned in the plane direction of two or more types of mutually incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compounds, good gradation can be achieved with easy control of recording means such as heat or electric field. It is now possible to record.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1(a) to (c) are explanatory diagrams showing an example of the recording principle of the polymer liquid crystal device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the polymer liquid crystal device of Example 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is the configuration diagram of the recording device,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing drive pulses for the thermal head of Example 1, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a display device using the polymer liquid crystal element of Example 1, and FIG. 6 is a polymer liquid crystal of Example 2. 7 is a block diagram of the recording device for the polymer liquid crystal device of Example 2, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the polymer liquid crystal device of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the polymer liquid crystal device of the present invention. A schematic diagram showing another example of a molecular liquid crystal element and FIG. 10 are graphs showing an example of gradation recording of the polymer liquid crystal composition of the present invention. l... Polyester film 2... Polymer liquid crystal pattern 3.3'... Thermal head 4.4'... Platen roller 5.5'... Feed roller 6... Semiconductor laser 7...・Polymer liquid crystal element 8...Stage 9...Fθ lens lO...Polygon mirror 11-...Fresnel lens 12...Collimator lens 1--Backlight 101.201...Substrate 102. 204...Recording layer 103...A region 104 made of a polymeric liquid crystal compound...
・Protective layer 202...Transparent electrode 203...Orientation control film

Claims (9)

[Claims] (1) A polymeric liquid crystal composition comprising two or more types of polymeric liquid crystal compounds that are mutually incompatible and differ in at least one of phase transition temperature and glass transition temperature. (2) The polymer liquid crystal composition according to claim 1, wherein the two or more types of polymer liquid crystal compounds have different liquid crystal phases. (3) A polymer liquid crystal element having a recording layer made of a polymer liquid crystal composition in which two or more types of polymer liquid crystal compounds are dispersed, which are incompatible with each other and differ in at least one of phase transition temperature and glass transition temperature. A polymeric liquid crystal element, characterized in that each separated region formed by the incompatible polymeric liquid crystal compound of the recording layer has a recording cross-sectional area of 1 mm^2 or less. (4) The polymer liquid crystal device according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the separated regions is granular. (5) The polymer liquid crystal device according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the separated regions has a planar shape. (6) The polymer liquid crystal element according to claim 3 or 5, further comprising a recording layer in which at least two types of polymer liquid crystal compounds are arranged in a plane direction or patterned in a random arrangement. (7) The polymer liquid crystal device according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the light scattering degree or transparency of the patterned recording layer is partially selectively changed thermally. (8) The polymer liquid crystal device according to any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein temperature ranges in which the polymer liquid crystal compound exhibits a liquid crystal phase are different from each other. (9) Claim 3 in which the liquid crystal phases of the polymeric liquid crystal compounds are different.
9. A polymer liquid crystal device according to any one of items 8 to 8.