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SUMMARY:Liquid crystal elastomers - Jonathan Biggins\, TCM Group\, Cavendi
 sh Laboratory
DTSTART:20091112T160000Z
DTEND:20091112T170000Z
UID:TALK19769@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Stephen Walley
DESCRIPTION:Liquid crystal elastomers are remarkable materials that couple
  the large strain elasticity of rubber with the mobile orientational order
  of liquid crystals. This coupling gives rise to a plethora of surprising 
 phenomena including deformation (almost) without elastic\ncost\, actuation
  in response to heat\, light and electric fields\, and microstuctral respo
 nse to imposed deformations. In this seminar I will give an overview of th
 e (surprisingly simple) theory of liquid crystal\nelastomers then discuss 
 my own work on polydomain nematic elastomers.\nI will argue polydomains ar
 e softer\, easier to fabricate and make better\nactuators than the monodom
 ain elastomers that have dominated the field\nto date.
LOCATION:Mott Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory\, Department of Physics
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