Smart materials

metal alloy of nickel and titanium, where the two elements are present in roughly equal atomic percentages

alloy that "remembers" its original shape and that when deformed returns to its pre-deformed shape when heated

material that can be externally controlled

glass with electrically switchable opacity

Smartdust is a system of many tiny microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) such as sensors, robots, or other devices, that can detect, for example, light, temperature, vibration, magnetism, or chemicals. They are usually operated on a computer network wirelessly and are distributed over some area to perform tasks, usually sensing through radio-frequency identification. Without an antenna of much greater size the range of tiny smart dust communication devices is measured in a few millimeters and they may be vulnerable to electromagnetic disablement and destruction by microwave exposure.

polymer that exhibits a change in size or shape when stimulated by an electric field

viscoelastic form of open-celled polyurethane foam, used for cushions and mattresses

type of chemical suspension

non-Newtonian fluid behavior

type of smart fluid in a carrier fluid

type of DNA damage

materials or devices that mimic natural muscle

material engineered to automatically repair physical damage without any human intervention

electronics mimicing skin functionalities

polymeric smart materials that have the ability to return from a deformed state (temporary shape) to their original (permanent) shape when induced by an external stimulus (trigger)

matter which has the ability to change its physical properties in a programmable fashion, based upon user input or autonomous sensing

fluid whose properties (i.e. the viscosity) can be changed by applying an electric or magnetic field

Smart material systems

type of material

polymers that show drastic, discontinuous changes in physical properties with temperature

wireless network sensor node

type of glass

In materials science, galfenol is the general term for an alloy of iron and gallium. The name was first given to iron-gallium alloys by United States Navy researchers in 1998 when they discovered that adding gallium to iron could amplify iron's magnetostrictive effect up to tenfold. Galfenol is of interest to sonar researchers because magnetostrictor materials are used to detect sound, and amplifying the magnetostrictive effect could lead to better sensitivity of sonar detectors. Galfenol is also proposed for vibrational energy harvesting, actuators for precision machine tools, active anti-vib