Polar Liquid Crystal Elastomers Cross Linked Far from Thermodynamic Phase Transitions: Dislocation Loops in Smectic Clusters

Figure 4

Length change data, 𝜆, for ▲ CN100, ◆ CN70, and • CN50 versus 𝜀, with 𝑇_𝑐=94.2^∘C (CN50); 110.6^∘C (CN70), and 112.6^∘C (CN100) plotted as symbols. The 𝜀≥0 (𝑇≲𝑇_𝑐) solid curves superposing that the data are 6th-order polynomial fits. To compare with the phase plot in Figure 3, arrows show that 𝑇^∗=60^∘C for the three CN compositions and 𝑇_𝑖 for CN70 (95^∘C) and CN100 (90^∘C). For CN50, 𝑇_𝑖∼𝑇_𝑐. Data for 𝑇>𝑇^∗ is linear for CN100 up to 𝜀∼0.2 and nonlinear for CN70 (see text for details).