Biaxial liquid-crystal elastomers: A lattice model

Abstract

We present a simple coarse-grained lattice model for monodomain biaxial liquid-crystal elastomers and perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations in the proposed model system. Orientational ordering - uniaxial or biaxial - reflects in sample deformations on cooling the system. The simulation output is used to predict calorimetry data and deuterium magnetic resonance spectra. © 2008 EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag.