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Enhanced Dynamic Adhesion in Nematic Liquid Crystal Elastomers.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Ohzono, Takuya 
Saed, Mohand O 
Terentjev, Eugene M  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3517-6578

Abstract

Smart adhesives that undergo reversible detachment in response to external stimuli enable a wide range of applications in household products, medical devices, or manufacturing. Here, a new model system for the design of smart soft adhesives that dynamically respond to their environment is presented. By exploiting the effect of dynamic soft elasticity in nematic liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), the temperature-dependent control of adhesion to a solid glass surface is demonstrated. The adhesion strength of LCE is more than double in the nematic phase, in comparison to the isotropic phase, further increasing at higher detachment rates. The static work of adhesion, related to the interfacial energy of adhesive contact, is shown to change very little within the explored temperature range. Accordingly, the observed enhanced adhesion in the nematic phase is primarily attributable to the increased internal energy dissipation during the detachment process. This adhesion effect is correlated with the inherent bulk dynamic-mechanical response in the nematic LCE. The reported enhanced dynamic adhesion can lead to the development of a new class of stimuli-responsive adhesives.

Description

Keywords

adhesion, dynamic soft elasticity, liquid crystal elastomer, viscous dissipation

Journal Title

Adv Mater

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0935-9648
1521-4095

Volume Title

31

Publisher

Wiley

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
European Research Council (786659)
ERC Advanced Grant No: 786659 (EU) JSPS Grant No: JP17K18862 (Japan)