Abstract
We present a mean field theory to describe cholesteric elastomers and gels under an external field, such as an electric or a magnetic field, along the helix axis of a cholesteric phase. We study the deformations and volume phase transitions of cholesteric gels as a function of the external field and temperature. Our theory predicts the phase transitions between isotropic (I), nematic (N), and heliconical cholesteric ( phases and the deformations of the elastomers at these phase transition temperatures. We also find volume phase transitions at the and the phase transitions.
Highlights
Gels can undergo a volume phase transition with varying some parameters such as temperature, the degree of ionization, the pH, etc. [1,2]
We have presented a mean field theory to describe the deformations of cholesteric elastomers and gels under the external field imposed along the helix axis of a cholesteric phase
We calculate the deformation of cholesteric elastomers and volume phase transitions of cholesteric gels under the external field
Summary
Gels can undergo a volume phase transition with varying some parameters such as temperature, the degree of ionization, the pH, etc. [1,2]. When the external field, such electric or magnetic fields, applies along the helix axis p of a Ch phase, the director n rotates along the pitch axis with a cone angle e (Figure 1b). This phase is called a heliconical cholesteric (Ch H ) phase. We theoretically study heliconical deformations of Ch elastomers and gels under the external field imposed along the helix axis of a Ch phase. We show some numerical results of anisotropic deformations of Ch H elastomers (Section 2.1) and volume phase transitions of the gels (Section 2.2).
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