Orientation effects in monodomain nematic liquid crystalline polysiloxane elastomers

Lacey, D., Beattie, H.N., Mitchell, G.R. and Pople, J.A. (1998) Orientation effects in monodomain nematic liquid crystalline polysiloxane elastomers. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 8 (1). pp. 53-60. ISSN 0959-9428 doi: 10.1039/A705570F

Abstract/Summary

A series of monodomain liquid crystalline (LC) elastomers based on a polysiloxane were synthesised. These elastomers were prepared either with one or two cross-linking agents in the presence of a mechanical field. By using the real-time X-ray facility at the University of Reading (AXIS), we have shown that the nematic order parameter 〈P2 〉 is dependent on both the extension λ value and the degree of cross-linking. We have also shown that the monodomain elastomers, exhibiting permanent alignment and 〈P2 〉 values of about 0.5, can be prepared by using only one cross-linking agent making the synthesis of these monodomain LC elastomers much more simple and cost effective than that proposed by Küpfer.