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arXiv · 1711.08308

Curvature by design and on demand in liquid crystal elastomers

Benjamin A. Kowalski·Cyrus Mostajeran·Nicholas P. Godman·Mark Warner·Timothy J. White
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Abstract

The shape of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) with spatial variation in the director orientation can be transformed by exposure to a stimulus. Here, informed by previously reported analytical treatments, we prepare complex spiral patterns imprinted into LCEs and quantify the resulting shape transformation. Quantification of the stimuli-induced shapes reveals good agreement between predicted and experimentally observed curvatures. We conclude this communication by reporting a design strategy to allow LCE films to be anchored at their external boundaries onto rigid substrates without incurring internal, mechanical-mismatch stresses upon actuation, a critical advance to the realization of shape transformation of LCEs in practical device applications.

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Benjamin A. Kowalski, Cyrus Mostajeran, Nicholas P. Godman, Mark Warner, Timothy J. White. 2017-11-22. Curvature by design and on demand in liquid crystal elastomers. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.97.012504

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