Issue 8, 2018

New insights into the nature of semi-soft elasticity and “mechanical-Fréedericksz transitions” in liquid crystal elastomers

Abstract

The mechanical properties of an all-acrylate liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) with a glass transition of 14 ± 1 °C are reported. The highly nonlinear load curve has a characteristic shape associated with semi-soft elasticity (SSE). Conversely, measurements of the director orientation throughout tensile loading instead indicate a “mechanical-Fréedericksz” transition (MFT). Values of the step length anisotropy, r, are independently calculated from the theories of SSE (r = 3.2 ± 0.4), MFT (9.3 < r < 30.0) and thermally-induced length change (r = 3.8 ± 0.5). From simultaneously recorded polarising microscopy textures, the consequences of the above discrepancies are considered. Further, a mechanically-induced negative order parameter is observed. Results show the tensile load curve shape cannot solely be used to determine the underlying physics. Consequently, the LCE properties cannot be fully described by theories of SSE or MFTs alone. This suggests that the theory of LCEs is not yet complete. The conclusions suggest that both the LC order parameter and r must be functions of the mechanical deformation.

Graphical abstract: New insights into the nature of semi-soft elasticity and “mechanical-Fréedericksz transitions” in liquid crystal elastomers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 okt 2017
Accepted
02 dec 2017
First published
25 jan 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2018,14, 1301-1310

New insights into the nature of semi-soft elasticity and “mechanical-Fréedericksz transitions” in liquid crystal elastomers

D. Mistry, P. B. Morgan, J. H. Clamp and H. F. Gleeson, Soft Matter, 2018, 14, 1301 DOI: 10.1039/C7SM02107K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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