Liquid crystal elastomer composites for high-temperature actuation: a fatigue-resistant design via poly(ε-caprolactone) toughening
摘要
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) combine the anisotropic molecular alignment of liquid crystals with the elastic network of crosslinked polymers, resulting in soft elasticity, programmable anisotropy through mesogen alignment, and stimuli responsiveness to heat, light, or chemicals. These properties render LCEs well-suited for biomimetic actuators and adaptive devices. However, their practical application is impeded by the occurrence of severe fatigue degradation under cyclic loading, particularly at elevated temperatures. To address this issue, we develop a fatigue-resistant LCE composite with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) toughening, in which LCE toughness and fatigue resistance are enhanced through temperature-adaptive energy dissipation mechanisms. The semi-crystalline polymer of PCL with a rubbery phase and tunable crystallinity has been shown to enhance the actuation performance and mechanical robustness: incorporation of merely 10 wt% PCL into LCE enhances the fatigue threshold and fracture resistance by a factor of 2–3 at both ambient and elevated temperatures, compared to the case of pure LCE, without sacrificing the actuation performance. This strategy has been proven to advance the applicability of LCEs under repeatable loading-unloading scenarios at elevated temperatures and is expected to promote the development of LCE-based soft robots.