Strain-induced transitions in liquid-crystal elastomers

Abstract

A novel strain-induced transition of the director orientation in a monodomain cross-linked side-chain liquid-crystal polymer system is reported which is analogous to the Fr\'eedericksz transition in simple nematics. This new type of transition has a characteristic threshold strain which arises from an internal elastic barrier to rotation and is related to the level of anisotropy of the polymer chain trajectory.