title: Biaxially stretched nematic liquid crystalline elastomers.
abstract: The biaxial stretching of sheets of liquid crystalline neo-Hookean elastomer has been studied in the isotropic case. The results suggest two types of laminate structures in the process of quasiconvexification of the free energy, a fact that implies the appearance of several shear terms in the deformation gradient matrix. More that one decomposition of the deformation gradient is possible, which is consistent with a bifurcation in the undeformed configuration (λ = 1) . This situation is similar to the well-known Rivlin's problem of the triaxial symmetric traction of a neo-Hookean cube. The problem can easily be generalized for an anisotropic material by introducing a semisoft term in the free-energy expression. In this case, the horizontal plateau corresponding to the minimal energy, characteristic of the soft elasticity, disappears, and only an equilibrium condition is obtained.
authors.affiliation: ITE, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. rdiazc@ter.upv.es
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Diaz-Calleja
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riande
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016880:Anisotropy; D004548:Elasticity; D020724:Elastomers / Q000737:chemistry*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D033081:Shear Strength; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D020724:Elastomers