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arXiv 0709.3665cond-mat.softcond-mat.stat-mech
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向列型弹性体的非线性弹性、涨落和不均匀性

Nonlinear Elasticity, Fluctuations and Heterogeneity of Nematic Elastomers

Xiangjun Xing, Leo Radzihovsky

摘要:

液晶弹性体实现了一种迷人的新形式的软物质,即传统的交联聚合物凝胶(橡胶)和液晶的复合物。这些{ \em固体}液晶汞齐,非常类似于它们的(常规的,流体)液晶对应物,可以自发地部分打破平移和/或取向对称性,伴随着新的软戈德斯通模式。因此,这些材料可以表现出非常规的弹性,其特征在于一些弹性模量的弹性强制消失。因此,对这种固体的恰当描述需要对经典弹性理论作必要的修改。在这项工作中,我们发展了一个{ \em旋转不变},{ \em非线性}理论的弹性体的理想液晶弹性体的双相。我们表明,它的特点是软模式,对应于长波长的剪切变形的固体网络和旋转的方向场的组合。我们研究了这些软模的热涨落网络的不均匀性的存在下,并表明,它们导致了各种各样的异常弹性性质,如奇异的长度尺度相关的剪切弹性模量,发散的弹性常数的张开变形的指向矢,长尺度不可压缩性,普遍泊松比和非线性应力应变关系的任意小应变。这些长尺度的弹性性质是{ \em通用}的,由一个非平凡的零温度固定点控制,并构成了一个定性的崩溃的经典弹性理论在弹性体。因此,弹性体实现了稳定的“临界相”,其特征在于普遍的幂律相关性,类似于连续相变的临界点,但在整个相上延伸。

英文摘要:

Liquid crystal elastomers realize a fascinating new form of soft matter that is a composite of a conventional crosslinked polymer gel (rubber) and a liquid crystal. These {\em solid} liquid crystal amalgams, quite similarly to their (conventional, fluid) liquid crystal counterparts, can spontaneously partially break translational and/or orientational symmetries, accompanied by novel soft Goldstone modes. As a consequence, these materials can exhibit unconventional elasticity characterized by symmetry-enforced vanishing of some elastic moduli. Thus, a proper description of such solids requires an essential modification of the classical elasticity theory. In this work, we develop a {\em rotationally invariant}, {\em nonlinear} theory of elasticity for the nematic phase of ideal liquid crystal elastomers. We show that it is characterized by soft modes, corresponding to a combination of long wavelength shear deformations of the solid network and rotations of the nematic director field. We study thermal fluctuations of these soft modes in the presence of network heterogeneities and show that they lead to a large variety of anomalous elastic properties, such as singular length-scale dependent shear elastic moduli, a divergent elastic constant for splay distortion of the nematic director, long-scale incompressibility, universal Poisson ratios and a nonlinear stress-strain relation fo arbitrary small strains. These long-scale elastic properties are {\em universal}, controlled by a nontrivial zero-temperature fixed point and constitute a qualitative breakdown of the classical elasticity theory in nematic elastomers. Thus, nematic elastomers realize a stable ``critical phase'', characterized by universal power-law correlations, akin to a critical point of a continuous phase transition, but extending over an entire phase.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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