BIAXIAL LOADING OF NEO-CLASSICAL LIQUID CRYSTAL ELASTOMERS:CONSTITUTIVE RELATIONS AND SOFT BEHAVIOR

The thermo-order-mechanical behaviors of liquid crystal elastomers(LCEs) under biaxial loading are studied in this paper.Inverse method for nonlinear elastic problems is utilized by imposing biaxial stretching to thin rectangular samples.Neo-classical elastic energy is used together with the Landau-de Gennes nematic free energy.Under plane stress assumptions,the constitutive equations are derived.Due to the possible reorientations of the liquid crystal molecules induced by the imposed biaxial loading,the in-plane nonlinear stress-strain relations can have different expressions depending on which loading axis will have the largest effective principal strain.And the free energy is a multi-well non-convex potential function.As shown by some typical loading paths,the LCE samples will exhibit an anisotropic nonlinear elastic behavior,as long as the loading has not induced a reorientation of the liquid crystal molecules.When this did occur,jumps of stresses could take place for dead loadings due to the losing of stability.     

Thermomechanical modeling of the thermo-order-mechanical coupling behaviors in liquid crystal elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomer is a kind of anisotropic polymeric material, with complicated micro-structures and thermo-order-mechanical coupling behaviors. In this paper, we propose a method to systematically model these coupling behaviors. We derive the constitutive model in full tensor structure according to the Clausius-Duhem inequality. Two of the constitutive equations represent the mechanical equilibrium and the other two represent the phase equilibrium. Choosing the total free energy as the combination of the neo-classical free energy and the Landau-de Gennes nematic free energy, we obtain the Cauchy stress-deformation gradient relation and the order-mechanical coupling equations. We find the analytical homogeneous solutions of the deformation for the typical mechanical loadings, such as uniaxial stretch, and simple shear in any directions. We also compare the compression behavior of prolate liquid crystal elastomers with the stretch behavior of oblate liquid crystal elastomers. As a result, the stress, strain, temperature, order parameter, biaxiality and the direction of the director of liquid crystal elastomers couple with each other. When the prolate liquid crystal elastomer sample is stretched in the direction parallel to its director, the deviatoric stress makes the mesogens more order and increase the transition temperature. When the sample is sheared or stretched in the direction non-parallel to the director, the director of the liquid crystal elastomer will rotate, and the biaxiality will be induced. Because of the order-mechanical coupling, under infinitesimal deformation, liquid crystal elastomer has anisotropic Young’s modulus and zero shear modulus in the direction parallel or perpendicular to the director. While for the oblate liquid crystal elastomers, the stretch parallel to the director will cause the rotation of the director and induce the biaxiality.     

Orientational instability of a lyotropic nematic liquid crystal layer

The problem of periodic domain initiation in a thin lyotropic nematic liquid crystal layer is studied. This layer has a planar director initial orientation, but the anchoring energy is minimized by the homeotropic one. The periodic structures whose wave vector is perpendicular to the director exist during the director reorientation process from the planar orientation to the homeotropic one when the reorientation wave front appears. It is shown that the divergent terms of the Prank orientation elasticity energy plays an important role in this effect. The saddle-splay Prank constant and the anisotropic anchoring energy coefficient are estimated.     

Modeling photo-induced deformation of glassy splay-bend and twist nematic sheets

Azobenzene-containing glassy nematic sheets deform in response to light in a complicated way depending on director distribution. To quantify the large-deflected deformation, a theoretical model is developed for the sheets with typical splay-bend and twist director distributions. A third-order in-plane displacement assumption is adopted to characterize the effect of transverse shear deformation, and the necessity is discussed through two examples for which analytical solutions are obtainable. Though this work is an extension of the third-order shear deformable theory for anisotropic laminates, it involves some new ingredients such as varying spontaneous strains and special material symmetries. The results are expected useful for analysis and design of the glassy nematic sheets in actuation applications.     

周期光照下液晶弹性体简支梁的振动响应研究

液晶弹性体(LCE)因其具有快速的光热响应和可逆变形等特性,在能量转换、软机器人和非接触控制等领域具有广泛的应用前景。本文利用液晶弹性体在外部光刺激下可与机械变形耦合的特性,建立了LCE简支梁的动态模型,研究了其在周期光照下的弯曲振动现象。首先建立了LCE简支梁的光驱动控制方程,然后通过振型叠加法获得方程的半解析解,再用Matlab软件编程计算其变化规律。计算结果表明,周期光照可以使LCE简支梁发生周期性振动,梁跨中的振动幅值可以通过阻尼因子、热弛豫时间、光照强度、光照周期和光照时间率来调节,振动平衡位置可以通过光强与热弛豫时间来调节,振动反应时间可以通过热弛豫时间与阻尼来调节。本文结果对光驱动运动的控制和光机能量转换系统的设计具有一定的指导意义。     

Orientation instability of the layer of a nematic liquid crystal

The origin of periodic structures in a layer of a lyotropic nematic liquid crystal observed in the director (vector, describing the anisotropic properties of the medium) reorientation experiment is studied. Such perturbations with the wavevector perpendicular to the initial orientation can develop in a liquid crystal layer in the unstable equilibrium state when the director is parallel to the walls under the condition that its orthogonality to the boundary corresponds to the minimum anchoring energy. It is shown that the linear dependence of the domain period on the layer thickness observed experimentally can be theoretically described when the Frank orientation elasticity energy is considered in the most general form taking the divergence terms into account and the anchoring energy of orientation is small as compared with the bulk energy. A relation between the coefficient of the divergence terms (saddlesplay elastic constant) and two other coefficients in the Frank energy is obtained.     

Transient thermo-mechanical analysis for bimorph soft robot based on thermally responsive liquid crystal elastomers

Thermally responsive liquid crystal elastomers(LCEs) hold great promise in applications of soft robots and actuators because of the induced size and shape change with temperature. Experiments have successfully demonstrated that the LCE based bimorphs can be effective soft robots once integrated with soft sensors and thermal actuators. Here, we present an analytical transient thermo-mechanical model for a bimorph structure based soft robot, which consists of a strip of LCE and a thermal inert polymer actuated by an ultra-thin stretchable open-mesh shaped heater to mimic the unique locomotion behaviors of an inchworm. The coupled mechanical and thermal analysis based on the thermo-mechanical theory is carried out to underpin the transient bending behavior, and a systematic understanding is therefore achieved. The key analytical results reveal that the thickness and the modulus ratio of the LCE and the inert polymer layer dominate the transient bending deformation. The analytical results will not only render fundamental understanding of the actuation of bimorph structures, but also facilitate the rational design of soft robotics.     

Director reorientation and order reconstruction: competing mechanisms in a nematic cell

We propose a model to explore the competition between two mechanisms possibly at work in a nematic liquid crystal confined within a flat cell with strong uniaxial planar conditions on the bounding plates and subject to an external field. To obtain an electric field perpendicular to the plates, a voltage is imposed across the cell; no further assumption is made on the electric potential within the cell, which is therefore calculated together with the nematic texture. The Landau-de Gennes theory of liquid crystals is used to derive the equilibrium nematic order tensor Q. When the voltage applied is low enough, the equilibrium texture is nearly homogeneous. Above a critical voltage, there exist two different possibilities for adjusting the order tensor to the applied field within the cell: plain director reorientation, i.e., the classical Freedericksz transition, and order reconstruction. The former mechanism entails the rotation of the eigenvectors of Q and can be described essentially by the orientation of the ordinary uniaxial nematic director, whilst the latter mechanism implies a significant variation of the eigenvalues of Q within the cell, virtually without any rotation of its eigenvectors, but with the intervention of a wealth of biaxial states. Either mechanism can actually occur, which yields different nematic textures, depending on material parameters, temperature, cell thickness and the applied potential. The equilibrium phase diagram illustrating the prevailing mechanism is constructed for a significant set of parameters.      

On the incremental equations in non-linear elasticity — I. Membrane theory

A new formulation of the equations of membrane theory in non-linear elasticity is described. It is based on the consistent use of certain conjugate variables averaged through the (undeformed) thickness of the thin shell which the membrane approximates. The deformation gradient is taken as the basic measure of deformation, and its average value as the membrane measure of deformation. It is shown that the average elastic strain energy can be regarded as a function of the average deformation gradient to within an error which is of the second order in a certain small parameter. Moreover, to the same order, the average strain energy is a potential function for the average nominal stress. This means that the averages of the conjugate variables (nominal stress and deformation gradient) are also conjugate.In terms of the average conjugate variables, the membrane equilibrium equations are obtained by averaging from the equilibrium equations of the full three-dimensional theory. Discussion of the order of magnitude of the errors involved in the membrane approximation is a feature of the analysis.The corresponding incremental equations are also derived as a prelude to their application in certain bifurcation problems. One such problem is examined in the companion paper (Part II) in which results for thick shells and membranes are compared.     

The shear flow behavior of LCPs based on a generalized Doi model with distortional elasticity

We consider the shear flow behavior of nematic LCPs, modeled via an extension of the Doi theory that incorporates the mean-field nematic potential due to Marrucci and Greco to account for distortional elasticity. Based upon the constitutive model that derives from this starting point, we utilize finite-element methods to investigate the LCP behavior in a planar shear flow. We assume that the LCP is pinned at the walls and is initially in its equilibrium configuration. The goal of our simulations is to explore the evolution of the LCP structure and the flow. Our results show that in-plane tumbling instabilities lead to a non-uniform orientation field, which, in turn, arrests tumbling. The resulting quasi-steady-state texture is characterized by a length scale that seems to be consistent with a Marrucci-like scaling. When we allow for out-of-plane tipping of the director, we predict an out-of-plane director instability, which is qualitatively consistent with what has been observed in experiments.     

Blow Up Criterion for Compressible Nematic Liquid Crystal Flows in Dimension Three

In this paper, we consider the short time strong solution to a simplified hydrodynamic flow modeling compressible, nematic liquid crystal materials in dimension three. We establish a criterion for possible breakdown of such solutions at a finite time in terms of the temporal integral of both the maximum norm of the deformation tensor of the velocity gradient and the square of the maximum norm of the gradient of a liquid crystal director field.     

Global Existence and Large Time Behavior of Strong Solutions to the 2-D Compressible Nematic Liquid Crystal Flows with Vacuum

This paper is concerned with the strong solutions to the Cauchy problem of a simplified Ericksen-Leslie system of compressible nematic liquid crystals in two or three dimensions with vacuum as far field density. For strong solutions, some a priori decay rate (in large time) for the pressure, the spatial gradient of velocity field and the second spatial gradient of liquid crystal director field are obtained provided that the initial total energy is suitably small. Furthermore, with the help of the key decay rates, we establish the global existence and uniqueness of strong solutions (which may be of possibly large oscillations) in two spatial dimensions.     

面内压电振动能量采集动力学设计与性能研究

压电振动能量采集将环境中普遍存在的机械能转换为电能,可以实现自供能传感、控制与驱动,具备灵活、节能环保、可持续的优势,具有广阔的应用前景。为了促进压电振动能量采集器件的集成与融合,提出面内压电振动能量采集,将压电振动能量采集器进行扁平化设计,使其在二维平面内采集振动能量,在保证较大功率输出下能够显著减小器件所需三维空间。为了提高输出功率与工作频宽,设计了具有双稳态与力放大机制的面内压电振动能量采集器。考虑弯张小变形,通过能量法建立了面内压电振动能量采集器的机电耦合动力学模型。分析了关键设计参数对面内压电振动能量采集器性能的影响。数值仿真了面内压电振动能量采集器在简谐激励下的俘能性能,结果表明,通过合理的设计,面内压电振动能量采集器可以低频、宽频弱激励下有效俘获能量。面内压电振动能量采集设计方法有利于推动便携式、可穿戴式自供能等方面的应用和产业化。     

Quasi-soft opto-mechanical behavior of photochromic liquid crystal elastomer: Linearized stress–strain relations and finite element simulations

Based on the neo-classical elastic energy of liquid crystal elastomers, the opto-mechanical behavior is modeled by considering the effect of photoisomerization on the nematic-isotropic transition of liquid crystal phase. Linearized stress–strain relation is derived for infinitesimal deformations with a very unusual shear stress that does not vanish identically as in the case of the soft behavior but is proportional to the rotation of directors. In other words, the shear stress depends on both the shear strain and the skew symmetric part of the displacement gradient with the shear modulus induced by the effect of photoisomerization. Finite element implementation for plane stress problems is obtained through a self-defined material subroutine in ABAQUS FEA tool. Numerical simulations show that the light induced deformations of two dimensional specimens consist of contractions, expansions and bending in different directions. The stress distributions indicate that the driving force for the light induced bending is produced by the bending moment of the normal stress along the director, while the other stress components are much smaller for two dimensional beam shaped specimens. However, the shear stress of the soft LCE is generally nonzero under light illumination due to the inhomogeneity of the opto-mechanical effect. It can be concluded from the strain distributions that the transversal plane cross section could remain plane after deformation if the light intensity or the decay distance is not too small and the sample is in the deep nematic phase. However, the shear strain and in plane rotation are of the same order as the other strain components, and thus should not be neglected. This indicates that the classical simple bending assumptions such as the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory should not be directly applied to model the light induced bending of neo-classical liquid crystal elastomers due to the soft behavior of the materials.     

Mechanical model for fiber-laden membranes

An integrated mechanical model for fiber-laden membranes is presented and representative predictions of relevance to cellulose ordering and orientation in the plant cell wall are presented. The model describes nematic liquid crystalline self-assembly of rigid fibers on an arbitrarily curved fluid membrane. The mechanics of the fluid membrane is described by the Helfrich bending-torsion model, the fiber self-assembly is described by the 2D Landau-de Gennes quadrupolar Q-tensor order parameter model, and the fiber-membrane interactions (inspired by an extension of the 2D Maier-Saupe model to curved surfaces) include competing curvo-philic (curvature-seeking) and curvo-phobic (curvature-avoiding) effects. Analysis of the free energy reveals three fiber orientation regimes: (a) along the major curvature, (b) along the minor curvature, (c) away from the principal curvatures, according to the competing curvo-philic and curvo-phobic interactions. The derived shape equation (normal stress balance) now includes curvature-nematic ordering contributions, with both bending and torsion renormalizations. Integration of the shape and nematic order equations gives a complete model whose solution describes the coupled membrane shape/fiber order state. Applications to cylindrical membranes, relevant to the plant cell wall, shows how growth decreases the fiber order parameter and moves the fibers’ director from the axial direction towards the azimuthal orientation, eventually leading to a state of stress predicted by pure membranes. The ubiquitous 54.7° cellulose fibril orientation with respect to the long axis in a cylindrical plant cell wall is shown to be predicted by the preset model when the ratio of curvo-phobic and curvo-philic interactions is in the range of the cylinder radius.     

Fracture mechanics of plates and shells applied to fail-safe analysis of fuselage Part I: Theory

In this paper, a general theory on the asymptotic field near the crack tip for plates and shells with and without shear deformation effect is established. It is found that four stress intensity factors, two for symmetrical and antisymmetrical stretching and two for symmetrical and antisymmetrical bending, are required to describe arbitrary asymptotic fields near the crack tip for plates without shear deformation. An additional stress intensity factor is required for the transverse shearing force induced by antisymmetrical bending when the shear deformation is included in the analysis. It is also proven by means of the complex variable technique that for problems of plates with shear deformation, there exist similarities in the asymptotic expressions of moments and membrane forces and also in the asymptotic expressions of in-plane displacements and rotations of the mid-surface. The energy release rate associated with crack growth in the direction of the crack line can be expressed in terms of stress intensity factors by means of Irwin's method of work and energy associated with a virtual crack extension. A combined stress intensity factor can be defined through the total energy release rate. The theory of the fracture of plates is generalized and applied to the study of problems in the fracture of shells. An example of an infinitely long cylindrical shell with a circumferential crack subjected to remote axial tension is given to demonstrate the application of the theory and to test the accuracy of the numerical analysis used for the problem.     

Force-Free States, Relative Strain, and Soft Elasticity in Nematic Elastomers

The remarkable ability of nematic elastomers to exhibit large deformations under small applied forces is known as soft elasticity. The recently proposed neo-classical free-energy density for nematic elastomers, derived by molecular-statistical arguments, has been used to model soft elasticity. In particular, the neo-classical free-energy density allows for a continuous spectrum of equilibria, which implies that deformations may occur in the complete absence of force and energy cost. Here we study the notion of force-free states in the context of a continuum theory of nematic elastomers that allows for isotropy, uniaxiality, and biaxiality of the polymer microstructure. Within that theory, the neo-classical free-energy density is an example of a free-energy density function that depends on the deformation gradient only through a nonlinear strain measure associated with the deformation of the polymer microstructure relative to the macroscopic continuum. Among the force-free states for a nematic elastomer described by the neo-classical free energy density, there is, in particular, a continuous spectrum of states parameterized by a pair of tensors that allows for soft deformations. In these force-free states the polymer microstructure is material in the sense that it stretches and rotates with the macroscopic continuum. Limitations of and possible improvements upon the neo-classical model are also discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The role of divergent terms in the Frank energy of nematic liquid crystals

The effect of divergent terms in the Frank orientation energy of nematic liquid crystals on the equilibrium state of the director field is studied. Such terms have no effect on the equations of motion or on the equilibrium of the medium under consideration; however, they should be taken into account in the derivation of boundary conditions. It is shown that, in the case of boundary perturbations or in the case of polar orientation angle perturbations, the divergent terms can be considered as a surface energy for the azimuth angle (this energy is similar to the Rapini-Papoular energy). In addition, these terms may cause a deviation of the director in the plane parallel to the boundary. The equilibrium problem for a nematic liquid crystal is considered as an example in the case of small periodic boundary perturbations.     

爆炸载荷下双向梯度仿生夹芯圆板的力学行为

基于王莲仿生面内梯度芯层,通过引入面外梯度,设计了一种双向梯度仿生夹芯圆板。在此基础上,运用ABAQUS有限元软件,对不同排列方式的双向梯度夹芯圆板在不同爆炸载荷作用下的响应进行了数值仿真,着重分析了不同仿生夹芯圆板的前后面板挠度、芯层压缩量、变形模式和能量吸收等特性,得到了一种抗爆性能较好的芯层排列方式。结果表明:相较于单一的面外梯度夹芯圆板,合理设计的双向梯度仿生夹芯圆板可以有效降低后面板挠度,并提高芯层的能量吸收。