English

Shear-enhanced elasticity in the cubic blue phase I

Soft Condensed Matter 2021-05-21 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

We present results of the linear and non-linear rheology of cubic blue phase I (BPI). The elasticity of BPI is dominated by double-twist cylinders assembled in a body-centered cubic lattice, which can be specified by disclination lines. We find that the elasticity of BPI is enhanced by an order of magnitude by applying pre-shear. The shear-enhanced elasticity is attributed to a rearrangement of the disclination lines that are arrested in a metastable state. Our results are relevant for the understanding of the dynamics of disclinations in cubic blue phases.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1810.07596,
  title  = {Shear-enhanced elasticity in the cubic blue phase I},
  author = {Shuji Fujii and Oliver Henrich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.07596},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

12 pages, 8 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T04:43:20.991Z