The behavior of average asphericity and orientation distribution with increasing extension are in line with what is expected, i.e., the more the material is stretched, the greater the tendency of the agglomeration to align in the direction of elongation and to gain in asphericity. However, from examining the average width data, it is evident that the network doesn't deform in a manner which preserves area. A cause for this may be due to the hexagonal lattice geometry of the network. The horizontal springs connected to cross-link points on the side boundaries are perpendicular to the direction of applied deformation, and so are perhaps less likely to respond. Further experiments whereby the lattice is kept the same but the deformation is instead applied to the side boundaries, might show improved behavior. Also, changing the relative values of the constants in the potential terms will have an effect. Thus, a range of values for the constants should be investigated. For example, the springs could be made much stiffer than the angle bonds and vice versa, and the resulting behavior studied.
Since this is a first attempt at simulating nematic elastomers, there are still modelling and other issues to be resolved. A goal of future work in this area would be to compute physically meaningful quantities like the bulk modulus for these materials and compare with experimental results. The present study has shown some of the challenges involved but also the great potential of the application of molecular simulations to nematic elastomers.