Possible Martensitic Transformation in Hydrated Phospholipid Liquid Crystals

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Abstract
The main phase transition in smectic liquid crystals of a hydrated phospholipid involves a Martensitic transformation driven by the molecular-conformation changes. This inhomogeneous shear transformation generates periodic crystallographic twins that appear as corrugations of the molecular bilayer sheets. The model accounts for the observed lipid shedding, hysteresis, double corrugation periodicities, and diffusion anomalies, and may account for other smectic herringbone structures.