Cargando…

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers

The need for mechanical manipulation during the curing of conventional liquid crystal elastomers diminishes their applicability in the field of shape-programmable soft materials and future applications in additive manufacturing. Here we report on polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers, novel co...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rešetič, Andraž, Milavec, Jerneja, Zupančič, Blaž, Domenici, Valentina, Zalar, Boštjan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5059788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713478
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13140
_version_ 1782459479134044160
author Rešetič, Andraž
Milavec, Jerneja
Zupančič, Blaž
Domenici, Valentina
Zalar, Boštjan
author_facet Rešetič, Andraž
Milavec, Jerneja
Zupančič, Blaž
Domenici, Valentina
Zalar, Boštjan
author_sort Rešetič, Andraž
collection PubMed
description The need for mechanical manipulation during the curing of conventional liquid crystal elastomers diminishes their applicability in the field of shape-programmable soft materials and future applications in additive manufacturing. Here we report on polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers, novel composite materials that eliminate this difficulty. Their thermal shape memory anisotropy is imprinted by curing in external magnetic field, providing for conventional moulding of macroscopically sized soft, thermomechanically active elastic objects of general shapes. The binary soft-soft composition of isotropic elastomer matrix, filled with freeze-fracture-fabricated, oriented liquid crystal elastomer microparticles as colloidal inclusions, allows for fine-tuning of thermal morphing behaviour. This is accomplished by adjusting the concentration, spatial distribution and orientation of microparticles or using blends of microparticles with different thermomechanical characteristics. We demonstrate that any Gaussian thermomechanical deformation mode (bend, cup, saddle, left and right twist) of a planar sample, as well as beat-like actuation, is attainable with bilayer microparticle configurations.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5059788
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Nature Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-50597882016-10-26 Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers Rešetič, Andraž Milavec, Jerneja Zupančič, Blaž Domenici, Valentina Zalar, Boštjan Nat Commun Article The need for mechanical manipulation during the curing of conventional liquid crystal elastomers diminishes their applicability in the field of shape-programmable soft materials and future applications in additive manufacturing. Here we report on polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers, novel composite materials that eliminate this difficulty. Their thermal shape memory anisotropy is imprinted by curing in external magnetic field, providing for conventional moulding of macroscopically sized soft, thermomechanically active elastic objects of general shapes. The binary soft-soft composition of isotropic elastomer matrix, filled with freeze-fracture-fabricated, oriented liquid crystal elastomer microparticles as colloidal inclusions, allows for fine-tuning of thermal morphing behaviour. This is accomplished by adjusting the concentration, spatial distribution and orientation of microparticles or using blends of microparticles with different thermomechanical characteristics. We demonstrate that any Gaussian thermomechanical deformation mode (bend, cup, saddle, left and right twist) of a planar sample, as well as beat-like actuation, is attainable with bilayer microparticle configurations. Nature Publishing Group 2016-10-07 /pmc/articles/PMC5059788/ /pubmed/27713478 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13140 Text en Copyright © 2016, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Rešetič, Andraž
Milavec, Jerneja
Zupančič, Blaž
Domenici, Valentina
Zalar, Boštjan
Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title_full Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title_fullStr Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title_full_unstemmed Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title_short Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
title_sort polymer-dispersed liquid crystal elastomers
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5059788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27713478
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13140
work_keys_str_mv AT reseticandraz polymerdispersedliquidcrystalelastomers
AT milavecjerneja polymerdispersedliquidcrystalelastomers
AT zupancicblaz polymerdispersedliquidcrystalelastomers
AT domenicivalentina polymerdispersedliquidcrystalelastomers
AT zalarbostjan polymerdispersedliquidcrystalelastomers