Localized soft elasticity in liquid crystal elastomers

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 10781
• Main Authors: Ware, Taylor H., Biggins, John S., Shick, Andreas F., Warner, Mark, White, Timothy J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23-02-2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1023/303; 639/301/923/966; 639/766/25; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10781

Synthetic approaches to prepare designer materials that localize deformation, by combining rigidity and compliance in a single material, have been widely sought. Bottom-up approaches, such as the self-organization of liquid crystals, offer potential advantages over top–down patterning methods such as photolithographic control of crosslink density, relating to the ease of preparation and fidelity of resolution. Here, we report on the directed self-assembly of materials with spatial and hierarchical variation in mechanical anisotropy. The highly nonlinear mechanical properties of the liquid crystalline elastomers examined here enables strain to be locally reduced >15-fold without introducing compositional variation or other heterogeneities. Each domain (⩾0.01 mm
2
) exhibits anisotropic nonlinear response to load based on the alignment of the molecular orientation with the loading axis. Accordingly, we design monoliths that localize deformation in uniaxial and biaxial tension, shear, bending and crack propagation, and subsequently demonstrate substrates for globally deformable yet locally stiff electronics.
Ruggedized stretchable electronic devices motivate the development of globally stretchable yet locally stiff materials. Here, Ware
et al
. programme the self-organization of liquid crystal elastomers to yield stretchable materials of homogenous composition but with spatial variation in mechanical properties.