We characterize experimentally the dynamics of the electro-opto-mechanical effect (macroscopic deformation with electro-optical effect) in monodomain liquid crystal elastomers swollen by low molecular mass liquid crystals. The optical and mechanical rise times (in response to field-on) decrease in almost proportion to the square of field strength, while the corresponding decay times (in response to field-off) are nearly independent of field strength. The optical rise and decay times are about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the mechanical ones. We propose a simple model to capture the main features of both static and dynamic aspects of the electro- opto-mechanical effect and use it to interpret the experimental data.

Dynamics of electro-opto-mechanical effects in swollen nematic elastomers

De Simone, Antonio;
2008

Abstract

We characterize experimentally the dynamics of the electro-opto-mechanical effect (macroscopic deformation with electro-optical effect) in monodomain liquid crystal elastomers swollen by low molecular mass liquid crystals. The optical and mechanical rise times (in response to field-on) decrease in almost proportion to the square of field strength, while the corresponding decay times (in response to field-off) are nearly independent of field strength. The optical rise and decay times are about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the mechanical ones. We propose a simple model to capture the main features of both static and dynamic aspects of the electro- opto-mechanical effect and use it to interpret the experimental data.
2008
Settore CHIM/02 - Chimica Fisica
Elastomers; liquid crystals; crystal elastomer; light sources; liquid crystal polymers; shape variation
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/83862
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