Sharma Anshul, Lagerwall Jan P F
Physics and Materials Science Research Unit, University of Luxembourg, 162 A Avenue de la Faïencerie, 1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
Materials (Basel). 2018 Mar 7;11(3):393. doi: 10.3390/ma11030393.
We present a robust method to prepare thin oriented nematic liquid crystalline elastomer-polymer (LCE-polymer) core-sheath fibers. An electrospinning setup is utilized to spin a single solution of photo-crosslinkable low molecular weight reactive mesogens and a support polymer to form the coaxial LCE-polymer fibers, where the support polymer forms the sheath via in situ phase separation as the solvent evaporates. We discuss the effect of phase separation and compare two different sheath polymers (polyvinylpyrrolidone and polylactic acid), investigating optical and morphological properties of obtained fibers, as well as the shape changes upon heating. The current fibers show only irreversible contraction, the relaxation most likely being hindered by the presence of the passive sheath polymer, increasing in stiffness on cooling. If the sheath polymer can be removed while keeping the LCE core intact, we expect LCE fibers produced in this way to have potential to be used as actuators, for instance in soft robotics and responsive textiles.
我们提出了一种制备取向向列型液晶弹性体 - 聚合物（LCE - 聚合物）核壳纤维的稳健方法。利用静电纺丝装置纺丝一种可光交联的低分子量反应性液晶基元与一种支撑聚合物的单一溶液，以形成同轴LCE - 聚合物纤维，其中支撑聚合物在溶剂蒸发时通过原位相分离形成鞘层。我们讨论了相分离的影响，并比较了两种不同的鞘层聚合物（聚乙烯吡咯烷酮和聚乳酸），研究所得纤维的光学和形态学性质，以及加热时的形状变化。当前的纤维仅显示不可逆收缩，松弛很可能因被动鞘层聚合物的存在而受阻，冷却时刚度增加。如果能在保持LCE核完整的同时去除鞘层聚合物，我们预计以这种方式生产的LCE纤维有潜力用作致动器，例如在软机器人技术和响应性纺织品中。
