Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: At the A to C transition, smectic elastomers have recently been observed to undergo approximately 35% spontaneous shear strains. We first explicitly describe how strains of up to twice this value could be mechanically or electrically induced in Sm-C elastomers by rotation of the director on a cone around the layer normal with an elastic cost dependent on constraints. Second, for typical sample geometries, we give the various microstructures in Sm-C akin to those seen in nematic elastomers under distortions with constraints. It is possible to give explicit results for the nature of the textures. Chiral Sm-C elastomers are ferroelectric. We calculate how the polarization could be mechanically reversed by large, hard, or soft strains of the rubber depending upon sample geometry.
Source: Physical Review E
Authors: J. M. Adams, M. Warner
Institutions: University of Surrey, University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2016036679