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Biaxially stretched nematic liquid crystalline elastomers

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Abstract

The biaxial stretching of sheets of liquid crystalline neo-Hookean elastomer has been studied in the isotropic case. The results suggest two types of laminate structures in the process of quasiconvexification of the free energy, a fact that implies the appearance of several shear terms in the deformation gradient matrix. More that one decomposition of the deformation gradient is possible, which is consistent with a bifurcation in the undeformed configuration (\( \lambda\) = 1) . This situation is similar to the well-known Rivlin’s problem of the triaxial symmetric traction of a neo-Hookean cube. The problem can easily be generalized for an anisotropic material by introducing a semisoft term in the free-energy expression. In this case, the horizontal plateau corresponding to the minimal energy, characteristic of the soft elasticity, disappears, and only an equilibrium condition is obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ITE, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    R. Diaz-Calleja

  2. ICTP, (CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    E. Riande

Authors
  1. R. Diaz-Calleja
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  2. E. Riande
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Correspondence to R. Diaz-Calleja.

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Diaz-Calleja, R., Riande, E. Biaxially stretched nematic liquid crystalline elastomers. Eur. Phys. J. E 35, 2 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2012-12002-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2012-12002-5

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