Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Elastomer (CLCE) is a structurally colored polymer system that can change color upon mechanical deformation by linking the color of helically aligned liquid crystal molecules and the viscoelasticity of rubber.
A team from the School of Science, Technology and Medicine has developed a simple and scalable method to pull fibers from a CLCE precursor solution by adjusting the solution’s viscoelasticity. The color of the fibers changes reversibly from red to blue when stretched.
The researchers then demonstrated the strength of CLCE fibers in clothing by repeatedly subjecting them to stretching, machine washing and abrasion. The fibers remain colored and are resistant to mechanical stress.
The researchers report that these strong, color-changing fibers open up numerous applications in wearable technology and other applications that require autonomous strain detection or critical strain detection.
Source: Ferra
