Lecturer: Prof. Len Pismen
Affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Abstract:
Nematic elastomers, made of cross-linked
polymeric chains with embedded mesogenic
structures, combine orientational properties
of liquid crystals with solid elasticity. Their
specific feature is a strong coupling between
the director orientation, that can be affected
by chemical reactions and light and
mechanical deformations. This property
enables their usage in actuators and self-
propelling devices. The feedback interactions
between nematic order, elastic stress, and
composition, lead to a variety of patterns in
nemato-elastic films and their spontaneous
bending into three-dimensional forms, which
are strongly affected by topological defects of
nematic order.