Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are reversible shape-memory materials that require alignment of the liquid crystals to exhibit shape responsiveness. Typically, LCEs are limited to a single alignment technique depending on the chemistries used. Here we explore the versatility of a two-stage reaction where liquid crystal monomers are first formed into oligomers (or a network) via a thiol-acrylate reaction. Then, excess acrylates are photo-polymerized to lock in the desired alignment. The ability to quickly polymerize a viscous oligomer solution (or unreacted acrylates in a network) at room temperature opens the pathway to designing LCEs using many different techniques such as thin film cells, stereo-lithography, and two-photon polymerization. This poster will present a variety techniques used to create LCEs from the same thiol-acrylate building blocks.

Exploring the uses of a two-stage thiol-acrylate reaction for liquid crystal elastomers

254th National Meeting (2017)

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