We demonstrate that lyotropic liquid crystalline (LC) phases, formed by the molecular interactions between 1‐glyceryl monooleyl ether (GME) and water, offer new pathways for producing crack‐free particulate films from colloidal suspensions. Drying experiments on titanium dioxide‐ethanol‐water‐GME suspension systems revealed a 15‐fold increase in the critical cracking thickness, above which cracks spontaneously evolve, compared to suspensions without additives. Contrary to previous theoretical predictions based on capillary forces, the critical thicknesses ethanol‐lean suspensions increased with higher particle packing volume fractions in the dried films. We developed a new phenomenological model that incorporates the formation of viscoelastic LC phases and found it to be in quantitative agreement with measurements. This suggests a versatile route for delaying cracking by introducing thermodynamically metastable phases of amphiphilic molecules. The evaporation‐induced isotropic‐LC transition was further verified by numerical predictions of the compositional trajectories on the phase diagram.

中文翻译：

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通过蒸发驱动的溶致形液晶阻碍胶体悬浮涂料中的开裂


我们证明，由 1-甘油单油醚 （GME） 与水之间的分子相互作用形成的溶致液晶 （LC） 相为从胶体悬浮液生产无裂纹颗粒膜提供了新的途径。在钛白粉-乙醇-水-GME 悬浮液系统上进行的干燥实验显示，与不含添加剂的悬浮液相比，临界裂纹厚度增加了 15 倍，超过该厚度后，裂纹会自发演变。与以前基于毛细管力的理论预测相反，乙醇-贫悬浮液的临界厚度随着干燥薄膜中颗粒堆积体积分数的增加而增加。我们开发了一种新的现象学模型，该模型结合了粘弹性液相色谱相的形成，并发现它在定量上与测量结果一致。这为通过引入两亲性分子的热力学亚稳相来延缓开裂提供了一种通用的途径。通过对相图上成分轨迹的数值预测，进一步验证了蒸发诱导的各向同性 LC 转变。