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Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer

As a promising actuating material, liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) has been intensively explored in building diverse active structures and devices. Recently, direct ink writing technique has been developed to print LCE structures with various geometries and actuation behaviors. Despite the advancemen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wang, Zijun, Wang, Zhijian, Zheng, Yue, He, Qiguang, Wang, Yang, Cai, Shengqiang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518867/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32978149
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc0034
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author Wang, Zijun
Wang, Zhijian
Zheng, Yue
He, Qiguang
Wang, Yang
Cai, Shengqiang
author_facet Wang, Zijun
Wang, Zhijian
Zheng, Yue
He, Qiguang
Wang, Yang
Cai, Shengqiang
author_sort Wang, Zijun
collection PubMed
description As a promising actuating material, liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) has been intensively explored in building diverse active structures and devices. Recently, direct ink writing technique has been developed to print LCE structures with various geometries and actuation behaviors. Despite the advancement in printing LCE, it remains challenging to print three-dimensional (3D) LCE structures with graded properties. Here, we report a facile method to tailor both the actuation behavior and mechanical properties of printed LCE filaments by varying printing parameters. On the basis of the comprehensive processing-structure-property relationship, we propose a simple strategy to print functionally graded LCEs, which greatly increases the design space for creating active morphing structures. We further demonstrate mitigation of stress concentration near the interface between an actuatable LCE tube and a rigid glass plate through gradient printing. The strategy developed here will facilitate potential applications of LCEs in different fields.
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spelling pubmed-75188672020-10-02 Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer Wang, Zijun Wang, Zhijian Zheng, Yue He, Qiguang Wang, Yang Cai, Shengqiang Sci Adv Research Articles As a promising actuating material, liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) has been intensively explored in building diverse active structures and devices. Recently, direct ink writing technique has been developed to print LCE structures with various geometries and actuation behaviors. Despite the advancement in printing LCE, it remains challenging to print three-dimensional (3D) LCE structures with graded properties. Here, we report a facile method to tailor both the actuation behavior and mechanical properties of printed LCE filaments by varying printing parameters. On the basis of the comprehensive processing-structure-property relationship, we propose a simple strategy to print functionally graded LCEs, which greatly increases the design space for creating active morphing structures. We further demonstrate mitigation of stress concentration near the interface between an actuatable LCE tube and a rigid glass plate through gradient printing. The strategy developed here will facilitate potential applications of LCEs in different fields. American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020-09-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7518867/ /pubmed/32978149 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc0034 Text en Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Wang, Zijun
Wang, Zhijian
Zheng, Yue
He, Qiguang
Wang, Yang
Cai, Shengqiang
Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title_full Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title_fullStr Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title_full_unstemmed Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title_short Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
title_sort three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518867/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32978149
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc0034
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