- Liquid-crystal order during synthesis affects main-chain liquid-crystal elastomer behavior.
Liquid-crystal order during synthesis affects main-chain liquid-crystal elastomer behavior.
Soft matter (2017-09-21)
N A Traugutt, R H Volpe, M S Bollinger, M O Saed, A H Torbati, K Yu, Natalia Dadivanyan, C M Yakacki
PMID28930352
ABSTRACT
This study presents the first direct comparison of the influence of liquid-crystal order during synthesis on the thermo-mechanical behaviors of main-chain liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) in thiol-acrylate networks. Six polydomain nematic elastomer (PNE) chemistries were compared directly by synthesizing with the mesogens in either an isotropic state (i-PNE) or a nematic state (n-PNE). The i-PNE networks were created in the presence of solvent, which disrupted any liquid-crystal order during network formation. Conversely, the n-PNE networks were created without the presence of solvent below the isotropic transition (T
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