University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Orientational order and finite strain in nematic elastomers

Fried, Eliot; Sellers, Shaun

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/324

Description

Title
Orientational order and finite strain in nematic elastomers
Author(s)
  • Fried, Eliot
  • Sellers, Shaun
Issue Date
2005-05
Abstract
Nematic elastomers exhibit large, spontaneous shape changes at the transition from the high-temperature isotropic phase to the low-temperature nematic phase. These finite deformations are studied here in the context of a nonlinear, properly invariant, variational theory that couples the orientational order and elastic deformation. The theory is based on the minimization of a free-energy functional that consists of two contributions: a nematic one due to the interaction of the mesogenic units and an elastic one arising from the stretching of the cross-linked polymer chains. Suitable choices for these two contributions allow for large, reversible, spontaneous shape changes in which the elastic deformation can affect the isotropic–nematic transition temperature. The change in transition temperature as well as the magnitude of the resulting spontaneous deformation are illustrated for various parameter values. The theory includes soft elasticity as a special case but is not restricted to it.
Publisher
Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (UIUC)
Series/Report Name or Number
TAM Reports 1066, (2005)
ISSN
0073-5264
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/324

Owning Collections

Technical Reports - Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (TAM) PRIMARY
TAM technical reports include manuscripts intended for publication, theses judged to have general interest, notes prepared for short courses, symposia compiled from outstanding undergraduate projects, and reports prepared for research-sponsoring agencies.