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Liquid crystal elastomers

Kaushik Bhattacharya (California Institute of Technology)

Eringen Medal Symposium in honor of G. Ravichandran

Tue 10:45 - 12:15

Salomon 001

Liquid crystal elastomers are rubber solids made of long cross-linked polymers that are also liquid crystalline. They possess unusual properties including spontaneous deformation under illumination or temperature change as well as soft elasticity due to the coupling between the liquid crystal mesogens and elastomer chains. This talk will recent progress at understanding their mechanical properties.