Tunable Mechanical Properties of Vectran Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) Short Fiber-Reinforced Soft Composite

We investigated the tunable mechanical properties of Vectran liquid crystal polymer (LCP) short fiber-reinforced soft composite; we varied the relative foam density and the short fiber loading ratio. The microstructures revealed well-defined pores, matrices, and short fibers. We derived the compressive stress–strain responses and stress relaxations and then performed dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). To investigate dynamic tunability, the abilities of the soft composites to isolate vibrations from 1 to 300 Hz were assessed. We used the generalized Maxwell model to fit the experimental data and to extract model parameters. We present a simple, versatile, and cost-effective method for the fabrication of LCP short fiber-reinforced soft composites with well-defined and widely tunable mechanical properties. These composites will find applications in many devices.