Photomechanically coupled viscoelasticity of azobenzene polyimide polymer networks

Polyimide-based azobenzene polymer networks have demonstrated superior photomechanical performance over more conventional azobenzene-doped pendent and cross-linked polyacrylate networks. These materials exhibit larger yield stress and glass transition temperatures and thus provide robustness for active control of adaptive structures directly with polarized, visible light. Whereas photochemical reactions clearly lead to deformation, as indicated by a rotation of a linear polarized light source, temperature and viscoelasticity can also influence deformation and complicate interpretation of the photostrictive and shape memory constitutive behavior. To better understand this behavior we develop a rate-dependent constitutive model and experimentally quantify the material behavior in these materials. The rate dependent deformation induced in these materials is quantified experimentally through photomechanical stress measurements and infrared camera measurements. Bayesian uncertainty analysis is used to assess the role of internal polymer network evolution and azobenzene excitation on both thermomechanical and photomechanical deformation in the presence polarized light of different orientations. A modified Arrhenius relation is proposed and validated using Bayesian statistics which provide connections between free volume, shape memory, and polarized light.