Mechanical switching of ferro-electric rubber
arXiv:0812.1746 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.79.061704
Abstract
At the A to C transition, smectic elastomers have recently been observed to undergo 35% spontaneous shear strains. We first explicitly describe how strains of up to twice this value could be mechanically or electrically induced in Sm- elastomers by rotation of the director on a cone around the layer normal at various elastic costs depending on constraints. Secondly, for typical sample geometries, we give the various microstructures in Sm- akin to those seen in nematic elastomers under distortions with constraints. It is possible to give explicit results for the nature of the textures. Chiral Sm- elastomers are ferro-electric. We calculate how the polarization could be mechanically reversed by large, hard or soft strains of the rubber, depending upon sample geometry.
15 pages, 12 figures