2009/12/17 by Badel L. Mbanga, Fangfu Ye, Jonathan V. Selinger +1
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Biaxial nematic #Composite material #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Elastomer #Finite element method #Geometry #Instability #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Liquid crystal #Materials science #Mechanics #Optics #Optoelectronics #Perpendicular #Phase (matter) #Physics #Rotation (mathematics) #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.82.051701
published as Phys. Rev. E 82, 051701 (2010) · 4 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2009/12/17 · openalex publication_date 2010/11/01 · arxiv updated 2011/11/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked polymer networks covalently bonded with liquid crystal mesogens. In the nematic phase, due to strong coupling between mechanical strain and orientational order, these materials display strain-induced instabilities associated with formation and evolution of orientational domains. Using a three-dimensional finite element elastodynamics simulation, we investigate one such instability, the onset of stripe formation in a monodomain film stretched along an axis perpendicular to the nematic director. In our simulation, we observe the formation of striped domains with alternating director rotation. This model allows us to explore the fundamental physics governing dynamic mechanical response of nematic elastomers and also provides a potentially useful computational tool for engineering device applications.