Orientation effects in monodomain nematic liquid crystalline polysiloxane elastomers

A series of monodomain liquid crystalline (LC) elastomers based on a polysiloxane were synthesised. These elastomers were prepared either with one or two cross-linking agents in the presence of a mechanical field. By using the real-time X-ray facility at the University of Reading (AXIS), we have shown that the nematic order parameter [P-2] is dependent on both the extension lambda value and the degree of cross-linking. We have also shown that the monodomain elastomers, exhibiting permanent alignment and [P-2] values of about 0.5, can be prepared by using only one cross-linking agent making the synthesis of these monodomain LC elastomers much more simple and cost effective than that proposed by Kupfer.