Deformation and rotations of free nematic elastomers in response to electric fields

Abstract

We describe theoretically highly significant experiments on nematic elastomers that observe 2-D mechanical distortions in response to electric fields applied perpendicular to the initial director. As the director is induced to rotate by the field, the mechanical deformations are not complicated by geometrical constraints since the samples float in oil between the electrodes. We account for the unusual deformations and for the director first departing from its original direction rather sharply at a characteristic voltage and finally approaching the field direction slowly at higher voltages.