Shape change and molecular realignment of a two-successive-process-deformed chiral smectic C elastomer

Abstract

The thermomechanical properties of a uniformly aligned chiral smectic C (SmC*) elastomer obtained by two successive deformation processes are investigated. The sample shape is almost retained with varying temperature in the tilted phases, although the tilt angle between the layer normal and the stationary director reaches 20°. The little shape change with considerable layer tilting implies that the two-successive-process-deformed SmC* elastomer is composed of many domains. We tentatively conclude that layer tilting is not coupled with the macroscopic shape change of the elastomer, because molecular realignment due to layer tilting occurs independently in each domain.

Keywords:

• elastomers
• liquid-crystalline polymers (LCPs)
• shape memory effect
• smectic liquid crystals
• X-ray

Acknowledgements

KH is grateful to Prof. Dr Heino Finkelmann for his help and encouragement. KH also wishes to acknowledge the valuable discussion with Prof. Dr Yang Ho Na. We thank Mr Akimasa Itagaki and Ms Eriko Azegami for their experimental assistance.