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Figure 15
Cascading pattern formation from homogeneous polymer solutions to the SKs via the flow-induced formation of dissipative structures 1–4, following the free energy landscape D1, and cascading pattern formation from the SK to the ECCs via the hot-drawing-induced dissipative structures 5 and 6, following the free energy landscape D2. 1 is the PLWCF, 2 is the randomly arranged demixed domains, 3 is the optically isotropic strings, 4 is the optically anisotropic strings, 5 and 6 are the SK having a kebab fraction reduced stepwise and increased shish length. The barriers A and B illustrate the free energy barrier in the absence of the external fields from the homogeneous polymer solutions to ECC or to SK, respectively, while the barrier C illustrates that from SK to ECC. The barriers A to C are anticipated to be extremely large, because the corresponding patterns were never observed in the absence of the external fields.

IUCrJ
Volume 2| Part 1| January 2015| Pages 59-73
ISSN: 2052-2525
doi:10.1107/S205225251402288X