Coupled effect of light incidence angle and deformation on the light-induced bending of liquid crystal elastomers plates

Abstract

In this paper, the light-induced bending of a liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) plate with the coupled effect of light incidence angle and deformation is studied for the first time. Based on the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory, a finite element model incorporating the coupled effect is developed to investigate the bending behavior of the LCEs plate. Deflections of the LCEs plate subjected to the light illumination with different light incidence angles are given. It is found that the coupled effect will significantly affect the bending deformation of the LCEs plate such as the location of the peak and the bending shape. Comparisons of the spontaneous bending of the LCEs plate with and without the coupled effect demonstrate the necessity of this study, especially for the LCEs plate subjected to the non-normal incidence light.