We propose that ballooning can be controlled, enriched and amplified by using rubbery networks of aligned molecular rods known as liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). Firstly, LCEs are promising artificial muscles, showing large spontaneous deformations in response to heat and light. In LCE balloons, spontaneous deformations can trigger classic ballooning, either as phase separation (at constant volume) or a volume jump (at constant pressure), resulting in greatly magnified actuation strains. Secondly, even at constant temperature, LCEs have unusual mechanics augmented by soft modes of deformation in which the nematic director rotates within the elastomer. These soft modes enrich the mechanics of LCE balloons, which can also “balloon” between rotated and unrotated states, either during the classic instability, or as a separate pre-cursor, leading to successive instabilities during inflation.

我们建议可以通过使用被称为液晶弹性体（LCEs）的对准分子棒的橡胶状网络来控制，富集和放大气球。首先，LCEs是有前途的人造肌肉，在对热和光的响应中表现出较大的自发变形。在LCE气球中，自发变形会触发经典的气球膨胀，无论是作为相分离（在恒定体积下）还是在体积跳跃（在恒定压力下），都会导致致动应变大大放大。其次，即使在恒定温度下，LCE的非常规力学也会因向列导向器在弹性体内旋转的软变形模式而增强。这些柔和的模式丰富了LCE气球的力学原理，无论是在经典的不稳定状态下，还是作为单独的前体，它们都可以在旋转和未旋转状态之间“膨胀”。