%0 Journal Article %J European Physical Journal E %D 2016 %T Hygroscopic study of hydroxypropylcellulose: Structure and strain-induced birefringence of capillary bridges %A Godinho, M.H.a %A Pieranski, P.b %A Sotta, P.c %I Springer New York LLC %K Birefringence %K Capillary bridges %K Humidity control %K Hydroxypro-pylcellulose %K Hygroscopic methods %K Isotropic samples %K Liquid crystals %K Lyotropic liquid crystal %K Soft matter %K Strain induced birefringence %K Uniaxial deformation %R 10.1140/epje/i2016-16089-2 %U https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84988851130&doi=10.1140%2fepje%2fi2016-16089-2&partnerID=40&md5=57a0193a5a8082ce19d78d9f99c70ec6 %V 39 %X Abstract.: The hygroscopic method developed previously for studies of lyotropic liquid crystals is used for the first time in experiments with millimetric capillary bridges made of a hydroxypropylcellulose/water mixture. Composition of such very small samples is controlled via humidity of the surrounding air. By a slow and well-controlled drying of initially isotropic samples, the isotropic/anisotropic phase transition is crossed and polydomain pseudo-isotropic capillary bridges are prepared. Kept in an atmosphere of constant humidity, these bridges are stretched and the strain-induced birefringence ∆n is measured as a function of the draw ratio λ. The variation of ∆n with λ is interpreted in terms of an affine uniaxial deformation of the initial pseudo-isotropic texture. © 2016, EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. %Z cited By 0