Influence of Liquid Crystallinity and Mechanical Deformation on the Molecular Relaxations of an Auxetic Liquid Crystal Elastomer

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 26; no. 23; p. 7313
• Main Authors: Raistrick, Thomas, Reynolds, Matthew, Gleeson, Helen F, Mattsson, Johan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Behavior; Broadband; Calorimetry; Cooling; Crosslinking; Crystals; Deformation; Dielectric relaxation; dielectric spectroscopy; Elastic anisotropy; Elastic properties; Elastomers; Energy; Freedericksz transitions; Glass; Glass transition temperature; liquid crystalline elastomer; Liquid crystals; Mechanical properties; Modulus of elasticity; Molecular relaxation; Phase transitions; Physical properties; Polymer melts; polymer relaxations; Polymers; Relaxation time; Rheological properties; Rheology; shear rheology; Spectroscopy; Strain; Transition temperatures; liquid crystalline elastomer; dielectric spectroscopy; polymer relaxations; shear rheology

Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) combine the anisotropic ordering of liquid crystals with the elastic properties of elastomers, providing unique physical properties, such as stimuli responsiveness and a recently discovered molecular auxetic response. Here, we determine how the molecular relaxation d...