Liquid crystalline materials are pervasive, enabling devices in our homes, purses, and pockets. It has been long-known that liquid crystallinity in polymers enables exceptional characteristics in high performance applications such as transparent armor or bulletproof vests. This talk will generally focus on a specific class of liquid crystalline polymeric materials: liquid crystalline elastomers. These materials were predicted by de Gennes to have exceptional promise as artificial muscles, owing to the unique assimilation of anisotropy and elasticity. Subsequent experimental studies have confirmed the salient features of these materials, with respect to other forms of stimuli-responsive soft matter, are large stroke actuation up to 400% as well “soft elasticity” (stretch at minimal stress).<br/><br/>This presentation will detail the fundamentals of soft elasticity in LCE as well as detail approaches to locally control the deformation of monolithic LCE films.

Nonlinear deformation in liquid crystalline elastomers

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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