Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433-7750, USA.
Soft Matter. 2017 Jun 21;13(24):4335-4340. doi: 10.1039/c7sm00663b.
Monomeric mixtures formulated to prepare a liquid crystal polymer network (LCN) or elastomer (LCE) can be "programmed" by surface alignment to retain complex and arbitrary spatial distributions of the director orientation upon polymerization. The localized control of orientation in a given volume (voxel) within these materials is the subject of intense research, currently motivated by the prospect of distinctive mechanical responses (both active and passive). Here, we report on a rapid and scalable photopatterning method to prepare alignment surfaces with a throughput of 10 mm s, using a commercial spatial light modulator and projection optics. Enabled by this method, we detail that the resolution limit of the inscribed director profile is not dictated by the optical system but is determined by the elastic-mediated orientational relaxation of the liquid crystalline materials. A simple model is experimentally validated and the implications for device design are discussed.
单体混合物被设计用于制备液晶聚合物网络（LCN）或弹性体（LCE），通过表面取向“编程”可以在聚合过程中保留指向矢取向的复杂和任意空间分布。在这些材料中，在给定体积（体素）内的取向的局部控制是目前激烈研究的主题，其动机是具有独特机械响应（主动和被动）的前景。在这里，我们报告了一种快速且可扩展的光图案化方法，该方法使用商业空间光调制器和投影光学器件以 10mm/s 的速度制备具有取向的表面。通过这种方法，我们详细说明了所记录的指向矢轮廓的分辨率极限不是由光学系统决定的，而是由液晶材料的弹性介导的取向松弛决定的。实验验证了一个简单的模型，并讨论了其对器件设计的影响。
