Rheology of liquid crystalline oligomers for 3-D printing of liquid crystalline elastomers

• Published in: Soft matter Vol. 18; no. 16; pp. 3168 - 3176
• Main Authors: Bauman, Grant E, Koch, Jeremy A, White, Timothy J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 20.04.2022
• Subjects: Alignment; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Elastomers; Fluid flow; Inks; Liquid crystals; Monomers; Oligomerization; Rheological properties; Rheology; Shear flow; Spatial variations; Three dimensional printing

Liquid crystalline monomers can be oligomerized and subsequently 3-D printed to prepare liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) with spatial variation of the nematic director to create soft materials that undergo complex shape change when subject to stimulus. Here, we detail the correlation of alignmen...