Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
I would like to ask if exists a form of break a microencapsulation. I want to encapsulate a cholesteric liquid crystal, and I think that when the lenght pich chenges in response of the temperature increase, the microencapsulation breaks down. Is it possible?
Thank you very much.

Hello ValenAvetta,

I must say that I don’t have any experience with liquid crystals or with microencapsulation. Perhaps other contributors to this forum will add some more informative comments.

It appears to me that it might be possible for liquid crystal dimensional changes to break microcapsules. Factors that might influence this could include the formulation of the encapsulation material, the process used to encapsulate the liquid crystals and the dimensional change of the crystals.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman

Hello A. Norman,
Thanks a lot for your answer. Since I wrote in this post, I have been investigating liquid crystals and microencapsulation, and I found the form to break a microcapsule but with oil instead of cholesteric liquid crystals, because they are not available in my country, Argentina. When I find the way to get them, I will check my hipothesis. If you know somebody who could help me with this project, please let me know.
Sorry for my bad English.
Thank you very much.