Steering Thermal Responses of Liquid Crystal Elastomer Fibers: From Contraction to Elongation
발표자
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초록
내용
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) combine rod-like mesogens with a loosely cross-linked polymer network, enabling large, reversible actuation in response to temperature changes. Among LCE geometries, 1D fibers are notable for their scalable production, rapid actuation, and through diverse fabric manufacturing processes. While most LCE fibers reported show thermotropic contraction, we report a novel "thermotropic elongation" (30% strain) upon heating, achieved through extrusion-based spinning with UV curing. This unique thermal behavior stems from the microstructure of our LCE fibers, as evidenced by x-ray scattering and microscopy. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate active textiles that can increase pore size by approximately 50% upon heating, offering potential applications in thermoregulation. potential for thermoregulation applications.