Issue 2, 2020

Localizing genesis in polydomain liquid crystal elastomers

Abstract

Programming the local orientation of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is a differentiated approach to prepare monolithic material compositions with localized deformation. Our prior efforts prepared LCEs with surface-enforced spatial variations in orientation to localize deformation when the LCEs were subjected to directional load. However, because these surface alignment methods included regions of planar orientation, the deformation of these programmed LCEs is inherently directional. The absence of macroscopic orientation in polydomain LCEs results in uniform, nonlinear deformation in all axes (omnidirectional soft elasticity). Here, we exploit the distinct mechanical response of polydomain LCEs prepared with isotropic or nematic genesis. By localizing the polydomain genesis via masked photopolymerizations conducted at different temperatures, we detail the preparation of main-chain, polydomain LCEs that are homogeneous in composition but exhibit spatially localized programmability in their mechanical response that is uniform in all directions.

Graphical abstract: Localizing genesis in polydomain liquid crystal elastomers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Sept. 2019
Accepted
01 Nov. 2019
First published
08 Nov. 2019

Soft Matter, 2020,16, 330-336

Localizing genesis in polydomain liquid crystal elastomers

H. E. Fowler, B. R. Donovan, J. M. McCracken, F. López Jiménez and T. J. White, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 330 DOI: 10.1039/C9SM01923E

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