Soft elasticity optimises dissipation in 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomers
Abstract
Soft-elasticity in monodomain liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is promising for impact-absorbing applications where strain energy is ideally absorbed at constant stress. Conventionally, compressive and impact studies on LCEs have not been performed given the notorious difficulty synthesizing sufficiently large monodomain devices. Here, we use direct-ink writing 3D printing to fabricate bulk (>cm3) monodomain LCE devices and study their compressive soft-elasticity over 8 decades of strain rate. At quasi-static rates, the monodomain soft-elastic LCE dissipated 45% of strain energy while comparator materials dissipated less than 20%. At strain rates up to 3000 s–1, our soft-elastic monodomain LCE consistently performed closest to an ideal-impact absorber. Drop testing reveals soft-elasticity as a likely mechanism for effectively reducing the severity of impacts – with soft elastic LCEs offering a Gadd Severity Index 40% lower than a comparable isotropic elastomer. Lastly, we demonstrate tailoring deformation and buckling behavior in monodomain LCEs via the printed director orientation.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[2];
[2];
[4]
- Univ. of Colorado, Denver, CO (United States)
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Impressio Inc., Aurora, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Colorado, Denver, CO (United States); Impressio Inc., Aurora, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); Leverhulme Trust; US Army Research Laboratory (USARL); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1834143
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2021-13516J
Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723; 701426
- Grant/Contract Number:
- NA0003525; ECF-2020-68; W911NF1710165; CMMI-2046611; CMMI-1350436
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; liquid crystals; mechanical engineering; polymers
Citation Formats
Mistry, D., Traugutt, N. A., Sanborn, B., Volpe, R. H., Chatham, L. S., Zhou, R., Song, B., Yu, K., Long, K. N., and Yakacki, C. M. Soft elasticity optimises dissipation in 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomers. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27013-0.
Mistry, D., Traugutt, N. A., Sanborn, B., Volpe, R. H., Chatham, L. S., Zhou, R., Song, B., Yu, K., Long, K. N., & Yakacki, C. M. Soft elasticity optimises dissipation in 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27013-0
Mistry, D., Traugutt, N. A., Sanborn, B., Volpe, R. H., Chatham, L. S., Zhou, R., Song, B., Yu, K., Long, K. N., and Yakacki, C. M. Thu .
"Soft elasticity optimises dissipation in 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27013-0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1834143.
@article{osti_1834143,
title = {Soft elasticity optimises dissipation in 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomers},
author = {Mistry, D. and Traugutt, N. A. and Sanborn, B. and Volpe, R. H. and Chatham, L. S. and Zhou, R. and Song, B. and Yu, K. and Long, K. N. and Yakacki, C. M.},
abstractNote = {Soft-elasticity in monodomain liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is promising for impact-absorbing applications where strain energy is ideally absorbed at constant stress. Conventionally, compressive and impact studies on LCEs have not been performed given the notorious difficulty synthesizing sufficiently large monodomain devices. Here, we use direct-ink writing 3D printing to fabricate bulk (>cm3) monodomain LCE devices and study their compressive soft-elasticity over 8 decades of strain rate. At quasi-static rates, the monodomain soft-elastic LCE dissipated 45% of strain energy while comparator materials dissipated less than 20%. At strain rates up to 3000 s–1, our soft-elastic monodomain LCE consistently performed closest to an ideal-impact absorber. Drop testing reveals soft-elasticity as a likely mechanism for effectively reducing the severity of impacts – with soft elastic LCEs offering a Gadd Severity Index 40% lower than a comparable isotropic elastomer. Lastly, we demonstrate tailoring deformation and buckling behavior in monodomain LCEs via the printed director orientation.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-021-27013-0},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Thu Nov 18 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Four-Dimensional Printed Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Actuators with Fast Photoinduced Mechanical Response toward Light-Driven Robotic Functions
journal, September 2020
- Ceamanos, Lorena; Kahveci, Zehra; López-Valdeolivas, María
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 12, Issue 39
3D Printing of Liquid Crystal Elastomeric Actuators with Spatially Programed Nematic Order
journal, January 2018
- Kotikian, Arda; Truby, Ryan L.; Boley, John William
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 10
Viscoelasticity of the polydomain-monodomain transition in main-chain liquid crystal elastomers
journal, August 2016
- Azoug, A.; Vasconcellos, V.; Dooling, J.
- Polymer, Vol. 98
High strain actuation liquid crystal elastomers via modulation of mesophase structure
journal, January 2017
- Saed, Mohand O.; Volpe, Ross H.; Traugutt, Nicholas A.
- Soft Matter, Vol. 13, Issue 41
Anomalous Viscoelastic Response of Nematic Elastomers
journal, April 2001
- Clarke, S. M.; Tajbakhsh, A. R.; Terentjev, E. M.
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 18
Internal constraints and arrested relaxation in main-chain nematic elastomers
journal, February 2021
- Ohzono, Takuya; Katoh, Kaoru; Minamikawa, Hiroyuki
- Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Issue 1
3D Printable and Reconfigurable Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Light‐Induced Shape Memory via Dynamic Bond Exchange
journal, October 2019
- Davidson, Emily C.; Kotikian, Arda; Li, Shucong
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 32, Issue 1
Hierarchical Structure of the Intervertebral Disc
journal, January 1989
- Cassidy, J. J.; Hiltner, A.; Baer, E.
- Connective Tissue Research, Vol. 23, Issue 1
Continuum mechanical modeling of liquid crystal elastomers as dissipative ordered solids
journal, May 2019
- Zhang, Yang; Xuan, Chen; Jiang, Yuefeng
- Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol. 126
Liquid-crystal order during synthesis affects main-chain liquid-crystal elastomer behavior
journal, January 2017
- Traugutt, N. A.; Volpe, R. H.; Bollinger, M. S.
- Soft Matter, Vol. 13, Issue 39
Inertial effects of quartz force transducers embedded in a split Hopkinson pressure bar
journal, August 2005
- Casem, D.; Weerasooriya, T.; Moy, P.
- Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 45, Issue 4
Comments on the Effect of Radial Inertia in the Kolsky Bar Test for an Incompressible Material
journal, December 2009
- Warren, T. L.; Forrestal, M. J.
- Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 50, Issue 8
Processing advances in liquid crystal elastomers provide a path to biomedical applications
journal, October 2020
- Ambulo, Cedric P.; Tasmim, Seelay; Wang, Suitu
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 128, Issue 14
Three-dimensional printing of functionally graded liquid crystal elastomer
journal, September 2020
- Wang, Zijun; Wang, Zhijian; Zheng, Yue
- Science Advances, Vol. 6, Issue 39
Investigating the dynamic mechanical behaviors of polyurea through experimentation and modeling
journal, December 2019
- Wang, Hao; Deng, Ximin; Wu, Haijun
- Defence Technology, Vol. 15, Issue 6
Use of a Weighted-Impulse Criterion for Estimating Injury Hazard
conference, November 1966
- Gadd, Charles W.
- 10th Stapp Car Crash Conference (1966), SAE Technical Paper Series
Liquid‐Crystal‐Elastomer‐Based Dissipative Structures by Digital Light Processing 3D Printing
journal, June 2020
- Traugutt, Nicholas A.; Mistry, Devesh; Luo, Chaoqian
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 32, Issue 28
Untethered soft robotic matter with passive control of shape morphing and propulsion
journal, August 2019
- Kotikian, Arda; McMahan, Connor; Davidson, Emily C.
- Science Robotics, Vol. 4, Issue 33
4D Printed Actuators with Soft-Robotic Functions
journal, December 2017
- López-Valdeolivas, María; Liu, Danqing; Broer, Dick Jan
- Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol. 39, Issue 5
Mechanical Response of an Alumina-filled Epoxy at Various Strain Rates
journal, June 2009
- Song, B.; Chen, W.; Montgomery, S. T.
- Journal of Composite Materials, Vol. 43, Issue 14
Assessing the effectiveness of a natural cellular material used as safety padding material in motorcycle helmets
journal, August 2011
- de Sousa, Ricardo Alves; Gonçalves, Daniel; Coelho, Rodrigo
- SIMULATION, Vol. 88, Issue 5
Fractional derivative viscoelastic model for frequency-dependent complex moduli of automotive elastomers
journal, August 2007
- Lu, Y. Charles
- International Journal of Mechanics and Materials in Design, Vol. 3, Issue 4
Biocompatible liquid-crystal elastomers mimic the intervertebral disc
journal, July 2020
- Shaha, Rajib K.; Merkel, Daniel R.; Anderson, Mitchell P.
- Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Vol. 107
Multistable Architected Materials for Trapping Elastic Strain Energy
journal, June 2015
- Shan, Sicong; Kang, Sung H.; Raney, Jordan R.
- Advanced Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 29
Processing and reprocessing liquid crystal elastomer actuators
journal, April 2021
- Mistry, Devesh; Traugutt, Nicholas A.; Yu, Kai
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 129, Issue 13
Dynamic Viscoelasticity of Poly(butyl acrylate) Elastomers Containing Dangling Chains with Controlled Lengths
journal, November 2011
- Yamazaki, Haruna; Takeda, Masanao; Kohno, Yoshiyuki
- Macromolecules, Vol. 44, Issue 22
Head Impact Severity Measures for Evaluating mild Traumatic Brain Injury risk Exposure
journal, April 2008
- Greenwald, Richard M.; Gwin, Joseph T.; Chu, Jeffrey J.
- Neurosurgery, Vol. 62, Issue 4
3D Printing of Liquid Crystal Elastomer Foams for Enhanced Energy Dissipation Under Mechanical Insult
journal, December 2020
- Luo, Chaoqian; Chung, Christopher; Traugutt, Nicholas A.
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 13, Issue 11
Mechanical energy dissipation in polydomain nematic liquid crystal elastomers in response to oscillating loading
journal, March 2019
- Merkel, Daniel R.; Shaha, Rajib K.; Yakacki, Christopher M.
- Polymer, Vol. 166
Four-dimensional Printing of Liquid Crystal Elastomers
journal, October 2017
- Ambulo, Cedric P.; Burroughs, Julia J.; Boothby, Jennifer M.
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 42