Programmable Complex Shape Changing of Polysiloxane Main-Chain Liquid Crystalline Elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are shape-morphing materials whose large and reversible shape transformations are caused by the coupling between the mobile anisotropic properties of liquid crystal (LC) units and the rubber elastic of polymer networks. Their shape-changing behaviors under certain st...

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Veröffentlicht in:Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Jg. 28; H. 12; S. 4858
Hauptverfasser: Zhang, Yuhe, Wang, Xiuxiu, Yang, Wenlong, Yan, Huixuan, Zhang, Xinyu, Han, Dongxu, He, Yifan, Li, Chensha, Sun, Liguo
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Switzerland MDPI AG 20.06.2023
MDPI
Schlagworte:
Behavior
Chemical bonds
Cooling
Crosslinked polymers
Elastomers
mechanical programming process
Phase transitions
Polymers
polysiloxane liquid crystalline elastomer
programmable shape morphing
Siloxanes
two-step crosslinking
two-way network memory
China
programmable shape morphing
mechanical programming process
polysiloxane liquid crystalline elastomer
two-step crosslinking
two-way network memory
ISSN:1420-3049, 1420-3049
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Zusammenfassung:Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are shape-morphing materials whose large and reversible shape transformations are caused by the coupling between the mobile anisotropic properties of liquid crystal (LC) units and the rubber elastic of polymer networks. Their shape-changing behaviors under certain stimuli are largely directed by the LC orientation; therefore, various strategies have been developed to spatially modulate the LC alignments. However, most of these methods are limited as they require complex fabrication technologies or have intrinsic limitations in applicability. To address this issue, programmable complex shape changes in some LCE types, such as polysiloxane side-chain LCEs, thiol-acrylate main-chain LCEs, etc., were achieved by using a mechanical alignment programming process coupled with two-step crosslinking. Here, we report a polysiloxane main-chain LCE with programmable 2- and 3D shape-changing abilities that were created by mechanically programming the polydomain LCE with two crosslinking steps. The resulting LCEs exhibited a reversible thermal-induced shape transformation between the initial and programmed shapes due to the two-way memory between the first and second network structures. Our findings expand on the applications of LCE materials in actuators, soft robotics, and smart structures where arbitrary and easily programmed shape morphing is needed.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:1420-3049
1420-3049
DOI:10.3390/molecules28124858