Abstract: The cell theory is used to study nematic liquid crystals formed by biaxial molecules. A new numerical method is developed to calculate the nematic order in liquid crystals. Without any functional expansions, accurate orientational distribution functions are obtained by using a newly iterative method to solve the equation of equilibrium state. The temperature dependences of the order parameter and of the internal energy per molecule are calculated, and the values of the relevant physical quantities at the nematic isotropic phase transition are given. Numerical results are in better agreement with the Monte Carlo simulation results than those of the molecular field theory.

Key words: biaxial molecule, nematic liquid crystal, cell theory, iterative method