Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2026

Synthesis of Programmable Main-chain Liquid-crystalline Elastomers Using a Two-stage Thiol-acrylate Reaction
Published on: January 19, 2016
Semisoft elasticity and director reorientation in stretched sheets of nematic elastomers
Sergio Conti1, Antonio DeSimone, Georg Dolzmann
1Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstrasse 22-26, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Abstract:
A two-dimensional effective model for the semisoft elastic behavior of nematic elastomers is derived in the thin film limit. The model is used to investigate numerically the force-stretch curves and the deformed shape, and to resolve the local patterns in the director orientation in a stretching experiment. From the force-stretch curves we recover the two critical stretches which mark the transition from hard to soft and back to hard response. We present an analytical model for their dependence on the aspect ratio of the sample, and compare it with numerical results.
Related Concept Videos
Elasticity
The elasticity of an object can be described by a stress-strain curve, which represents the relationship between stress...
Plastic Behavior
Relation between Poisson's ratio, Modulus of Elasticity and Modulus of Rigidity
Members Made of Elastoplastic Material
As the bending moment...
Residual Stresses in Bending
Elastic Strain Energy for Shearing Stresses

