Accordion-like Actuators of Multiple 3D Patterned Liquid Crystal Polymer Films

This work describes the fabrication, characterization, and modelling of liquid crystalline polymer network films with a multiple patterned 3D nematic director profile, a stimuli‐responsive material that exhibits complex mechanical actuation under change of temperature or pH. These films have a discr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advanced functional materials 2014-03, Vol.24 (9), p.1251-1258
Main Authors: de Haan, Laurens T., Gimenez-Pinto, Vianney, Konya, Andrew, Nguyen, Thanh-Son, Verjans, Julien M. N., Sánchez-Somolinos, Carlos, Selinger, Jonathan V., Selinger, Robin L. B., Broer, Dirk J., Schenning, Albertus P. H. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Deformation
finite-element analysis
Liquid crystal polymers
liquid crystals
Mathematical analysis
Microstructure
Networks
polymer networks
Three dimensional
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This work describes the fabrication, characterization, and modelling of liquid crystalline polymer network films with a multiple patterned 3D nematic director profile, a stimuli‐responsive material that exhibits complex mechanical actuation under change of temperature or pH. These films have a discrete alternating striped or checkerboard director profile in the plane, and a 90‐degree twist through the depth of the film. When actuated via heating, the striped films deform into accordion‐like folds, while the film patterned with a checkerboard microstructure buckles out‐of‐plane. Furthermore, striped films are fabricated so that they also deform into an accordion shaped fold, by a change of pH in an aqueous environment. Three‐dimensional finite element simulations and elasticity analysis provide insight into the dependence of shape evolution on director microstructure and the sample's aspect ratio. Accordion‐like deformation is achieved in polymer films consisting of crosslinked liquid crystal polymer networks having a multiple 3D pattern. The exotic deformation behavior can be induced in both heat and pH sensitive materials. A finite element analysis is used to explain the observations and to predict the strength and amplitude of the actuators.
ISSN:1616-301X
1616-3028
DOI:10.1002/adfm.201302568