Thermodynamics and Nonlinear Mechanics of Materials with Photoresponsive Microstructure

The ability to directly convert visible light radiation into useful mechanical work provides many opportunities in the field of smart materials and adaptive structures ranging from biomedical applications to control of heliostat mirrors for solar harvesting. The complexities associated with coupling time-dependent Maxwell's equations with linear momentum and mechanics is discussed by introducing a set of electronic order parameters that govern the coupling between electromagnetic radiation and mechanics of a deformable solid. Numerical examples are given illustrating how this methodology is applied to a special class of liquid crystal polymer networks containing azobenzene. The dynamics associated with light absorption and its effect on deformation of the polymer are solved in three dimensions using finite difference methods and compared to experimental results. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of polarized light on microstructure evolution and stresses that occur during photoisomerization of the optically active microstructure.