Microstructural Basis of Complex Mechanical Programming in Liquid Crystal Elastomers.

ABSTRACT: Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are actuating soft solids that exhibit large and reversible contractions along the liquid crystal director on heating through the nematic-isotropic transition. Recently, mechanical programming was used to fabricate LCEs that can actuate into arbitrarily complex shapes such as a face. Here, we combine theoretical and experimental observations to explain how such complex mechanical programming works. Crucially, we identify the intermediate pre-programmed state as an isotropic genesis polydomain, which, during programming, can accommodate the imposed strains via a pure soft-mode response enabled by director rotation and laminar microstructures. Second cross-linking fixes these microstructures as preferred but, since they were achieved softly, they do not invol

SUBMITTER: Barnes M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12122613 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature