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Updated: Jun 30, 2025

Microfluidic Preparation of Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Actuators
Published on: May 20, 2018
Fast and Slow-Twitch Actuation via Twisted Liquid Crystal Elastomer Fibers
Melvin Colorado Escobar1, Timothy J White1,2
1Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
Abstract:
The performance of robotic systems can benefit from low-density material actuators that emulate muscle typology (e.g., fast and slow twitch) of natural systems. Recent reports detail the thermomechanical, chemical, electrical, and pneumatic response of twisted and coiled fibers. The geometrical constraints imparted on typically commodity materials realize distinguished stimuli-induced actuation including low density, high force, and moderate stroke. Here, actuators are prepared by twisting fibers composed of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). The actuators combine the inherent stimuli-response of LCEs with the geometrical constraints of twisted fiber actuators to dramatically increase the deformation rate, specific work, and achievable force output. In some geometries, the thermomechanical response of the LCE exhibits a pseudo-first-order transition.
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