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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
Observation of a soft mode of elastic instability in liquid crystal elastomers
1Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana SI-1000, Slovenia.
Abstract:
In monodomain liquid crystal elastomers a symmetry-breaking locked-in anisotropy causes a semisoft elastic response characterized by a plateau in the stress-strain curve. We show by dynamic light scattering performed as a function of deformation that the relaxation rate of the nematic director fluctuations decreases with strain to a very small value at the onset of the soft elastic response, revealing the existence of a dynamic soft mode. The results are in complete agreement with the theory of semisoft elasticity and allow us to determine all the constants of the model.
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