Liquid Crystals in Technology and Medicine

The authors present the results of investigations of the lubricating effect of liquid crystals and also materials and preparations based on them. The data on the tribological efficiency of cholesteric liquid crystals in technical friction sections are presented. The relationships of the tribological properties of liquid crystals with their physical properties are described. They present a completely new concept of the boundary lubrication of joints according to which a significant role in the mechanism of decreasing intra-joint friction is played by the liquid crystal state of the synovial liquid. The experimental data concerning this concept are presented. The currently available data on the patogenesis of destruction of joints and the problems of development of artificial lubricants for prophylactics in rheumatic diseases are systematised.