This paper describes the viscosity variation of a liquid crystal under electric field, and its application to a controllable step bearing. Liquid crystal is known as a homogeneous organic liquid characterized by the long-range order of its molecular orientation. When an electric field is applied to a liquid crystal film as lubricant, the orientational order of molecules becomes parallel to the applied field, which causes apparent viscosity variation. In this paper, a controllable step bearing system was constructed and its dynamic characteristics were studied. When a step load, sinusoidal or earthquake excitation was applied to the bearing pad, the film thickness was successfully controlled to the appointed value by a conventional PID controller. The response frequency was also studied in the experiment.
Manipulating the Orbital Angular Momentum of Light at the Micron Scale with Nematic Disclinations in a Liquid Crystal Film