Over the 100 years since its discovery, liquid crystals have been the intriguing subject for both academia and industries. The textbook of de Gennes The Physics of Liquid Crystals published in 1974 is still the bible for many LC researchers, but new subjects unmentioned in the book have also risen for these years. This chapter describes the story of the recent developments and the future perspectives in physics of liquid crystals, especially focusing on the contributions by Japanese research groups for the last decade.

Physics of Liquid Crystals

Recent progress in shape memory polymer: New behavior, enabling materials, and mechanistic understanding

This review collects recent developments in the field of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) with an emphasis on their use for actuator and sensor applications. Several synthetic pathways leading to crosslinked liquid crystalline polymers are discussed and how these materials can be oriented into liquid crystalline monodomains are described. By comparing the actuating properties of different systems, general structure-property relationships for LCEs are obtained. In the final section, how these materials can be turned into usable devices using different interdisciplinary techniques are described.

Liquid Crystalline Elastomers as Actuators and Sensors

Free-standing anisotropic side chain liquid crystalline elastomer films have been prepared using mesogens with laterally affixed polymerizable side chains. We present data on two networks:  one containing the monomer of 4‘-acryloyloxybutyl 2,5-(4‘-butyloxybenzoyloxy)benzoate and another from a 50/50 mol % mixture of the above with 4‘-acryloyloxybutyl 2,5-di(4‘-pentylcyclohexyloyloxy)benzoate. The cross-linking was achieved using 10 mol % of 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate. The calculated cross-linking density, as determined from the Young's modulus, was in the 10 -5 mol/cm3 range. Thermoelastic responses show strain changes through the nematic−isotropic phase transition to be 30−45%. The order parameters of the oriented films were determined from the dichroic ratio of IR absorption at 3343 cm-1 to the in-plane aromatic stretching overtone of the LC mesogen core. The variation of the order parameter with temperature scales similar to the strain changes at constant stress. Isostrain studies, conducted through the...

Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Mechanical Properties of a Muscle

We report the synthesis and physical studies of a liquid crystalline elastomer fiber consisting of two side-chain liquid crystalline acrylates and a nonmesogennic comonomer side group that acts as a reactive site for cross-linking. The terpolymer was synthesized by radical polymerization, and the cross-linking of the network was achieved by using a diisocyanate unit. The fiber formed shows good liquid crystal alignment texture under a cross-polarizer microscope. Thermoelastic response shows strain changes through the nematic−isotropic phase transition of about 30−35%. A retractive force of nearly 300 kPa was measured in the isotropic phase. Static work loop studies show the viscoelastic losses in these materials to be very small. We also present preliminary studies on the effect of doping carbon nanotubes on the induced strain at the nematic−isotropic transition.

Nematic Elastomer Fiber Actuator

The influence of external mechanical stress on the nematic-isotropic phase transformation of nematic elastomers was investigated. The experimental results of IR-dichroism measurements in the nematic phase and stress-optical measurements in the isotropic phase are in good agreement with the theoretical predicitions of the phenomenological Landau-de Gennes theory. This is for the first time that a significant influence of an external field on the nematic-isotropic phase transformation temperature and on the nematic order parameter S has been proved.

Nematic elastomers: The influence of external mechanical stress on the liquid-crystalline phase behavior

The orientation behavior of crosslinked liquid crystal-line side chain polymers is determined by IR-dichroism measurements. In stretched samples the conformation of the polymer main chain and the chemical constitution of the rodlike side chain determine the position of the director in relation to the axis of stress. The order parameter S has the same temperature dependence and is of the same magnitude as in the corresponding uncrosslinked liquid crystalline polymers. The order parameter and the nematic to isotropic phase transformation temperature are independent of the applied mechanical stress under the experimental conditions (elongation up to 50%).

State of Order in Liquid Crystalline Elastomers

Articles a paraitre dans Macromol. Chem. sur les proprietes optiques et thermomecaniques d'elastomeres cristaux liquides

Joachim Schätzle

Papers

Nematic elastomers: The influence of external mechanical stress on the liquid-crystalline phase behavior

State of Order in Liquid Crystalline Elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomers