Thermal diffusion and bending kinetics in nematic elastomer cantilever
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-13 v1 Materials Science
Abstract
Vertically aligned mono-domain nematic liquid crystal elastomers contract when heated. If a temperature gradient is applied across the width of such a cantilever, inhomogeneous strain distribution leads to bending motion. We modelled the kinetics of thermally-induced bending in the limit of a long thin strip and the predicted time-variation of curvature agreed quantitatively with experimental data from samples with a range of critical indices and nematic-isotropic transition temperatures. We also deduced a value for the thermal diffusion coefficient of the elastomer.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0712.1439,
title = {Thermal diffusion and bending kinetics in nematic elastomer cantilever},
author = {K. K. Hon and D. Corbett and E. M. Terentjev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0712.1439},
year = {2009}
}