Programmable deformation of liquid crystal elastomer plates subjected to concentrated light illumination

In this paper, the programmable deformation of liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) plates with arbitrary director orientation subjected to concentrated light illumination is investigated. An improved method is provided by extending the isogeometric analysis (IGA) with consideration of the refined shear deformation theory (RSDT) to take account of the shear strains induced by light. The present numerical method is validated by the finite element method (FEM) and available results. With the director orientation, the position and the intensity of the concentrated light illumination acting as decoders, the deformations of the LCE plates can deliver various kinds of letters such as H, I, T, X and Y. This fact indicates that we could control the deformation of LCE plates to show some information by programming code.

Automated summary

This study investigates the programmable deformation of liquid crystal elastomer plates using IGA and RSDT methods. By using director orientation, position, and intensity of concentrated light as decoders, the deformations of the LCE plates can display various letters.