A combined experimental and molecular dynamic studies of curing of shape memory lignin-liquid crystalline elastomeric composites

Abstract

Elastomeric liquid crystalline (ELC) composites have recently been developed to be utilised as thermomechanically activated shape memory materials. To extend their utility for a range of industrial applications, understanding the curing behaviour of this composite system is critical, which could pave the way for their processability through advanced manufacturing methods. This work has investigated the curing behaviour of these composites using a combination of laboratory experiments and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations. The results show that the addition of higher loading of lignin increases the activation energy and hence retards the curing conversion of the composites due to its steric ..