| 초록 |
Among various types of shape changing materials, liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) received a great attention due to their capability to exhibit reversible shape transformation (i.e., reversible actuation) in a programmed manner. The molecular engineering of LCEs is the key to manipulate the phase transition, mechanical properties as well as actuation performance of the LCEs. In this work, LCEs containing three different types of butylamine (n-butyl, iso-butyl and sec-butyl) were synthesized to investigate the impact of isomeric amine chain extenders on the thermal, mechanical and actuation properties of the resulting LCEs. It was revealed that both glass transition temperature and the rubbery modulus were greatly altered by the choice of butylamine potentially due to change in packing of mesogens. Our results suggest a facile and promising method to control the properties of LCEs, which may advance developing actuators for soft robots, 4D printing and aerospace applications. |
