Fig. 6

Instilled mechanical anisotropy in a PDLCE composite at \({w}_{\text{LCE}}=0.40\). The \({E}_{{||}}\) and \({E}_{\perp }\) follow a similar trend to those in the pure MC-LCE material—lower \({E}_{{||}}\) and higher \({E}_{\perp }\) with increasing memorized deformation. The Halpin–Tsai evaluation of the effect of LCE particle geometry on mechanical anisotropy is shown with dashed lines. Solid lines represent the same Halpin–Tsai model with additional consideration for the shape-memory induced anisotropy in the Young’s modulus of the LCE microparticles (Eqs. (8) and (9)). The results are normalized with the Young’s modulus value of the non-programmed specimen.