Effect of cross-linker geometry on equilibrium thermal and mechanical properties of nematic elastomers

We study three monodomain (single-crystal) nematic elastomer materials, all side-chain siloxane polymers with the same mesogenic groups but with different types of cross linking: (i) short flexible siloxane linkage affine to the network backbone. Qi) short flexible aliphatic cross links miscible with mesogenic side chain groups, and (iii) long segments of main-chain nematic polymer. Equilibrium physical properties of these three systems are very different, especially the spontaneous thermal expansion and anisotropic stress-strain response along and perpendicular to the uniform nematic director. In the latter case. we examine the soft elastic plateau during the director reorientation. We compare the nematic order-parameter Q(T), provided primarily by the side mesogenic groups and relatively constant between the samples, and the average backbone chain anisotropy r( T) = /(eta) //(perpendicular to), which is strongly affected by the cross-linking geometry. The experimental data are compared quantitatively with theoretical models of nematic elastomers.