Dynamic Simulations of Potentially Auxetic Liquid-Crystalline Polymers incorporating Swivelling Mesogens

Stephen Carl Moratti (1) , Peter Lewis Aldred (2)

1 Chemistry
2 Chemistry

Dynamic simulations under stress were carried out on a series of main-chain polymers containing two types of mesogen. One mesogen is orientated in-line with the chain (end-to-end), the second mesogen (swivelling) has the main chain passing at right angles through it. Under strain the swivelling mesogens are expected to rotate, pushing apart neighbouring chains. Polymers incorporating 50% of both mesogens showed a reduced Poisson's ratio. In particular, swivelling mesogens of seven rings length produced a negative Poisson's ratio, and thus should be auxetic. In contrast, polymers containing only end-to-end mesogens had relatively high Poisson's ratios of 0.53-0.59.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Stephen Carl Moratti, Peter Lewis Aldred. Dynamic Simulations of Potentially Auxetic Liquid-Crystalline Polymers incorporating Swivelling Mesogens. Molecular Simulation, 2005, 31 (13), pp.883-886. ⟨10.1080/08927020500415584⟩. ⟨hal-00514971⟩