Evaluation of Smart Materials for Smart Industrial Applications

Abstract

Over the past century, it is the matter of interest to create specialized materials that meet our specific needs for strength, durability, weight, flexibility & cost. Smart materials are those materials that have the intrinsic and extrinsic capabilities, first, to respond to stimuli and environmental changes and second, to activate their functions according to these changes. Smart materials are having ability to vary its shape consistent with the external stimulus like temperature, pressure, electric field, magnetic field, etc. These materials possess accommodative capabilities and perform higher than normal, dumb materials. Hence the present age is considered to be the smart materials era & in present the definition of smart materials has been expanded to the materials that receive, transmit, or process a stimulus and respond by producing a useful effect which will include a signal that the materials are acting upon it. They are called as smart because their in-built sensing and actuation potentiality. These materials involves piezoelectric materials, magnetorheostatic materials, electrorheostatic materials, and shape memory alloy. Smart materials are now days getting used in all spheres of human life and technology. A lot of research goes on to use their potential in different engineering applications which make prove useful for folk. The automotive and aerospace industries have for the first time used these smart materials for various applications. These Smart materials are utilized in various fields like in robotics, aeronautics, keyboard, biomedical, etc. The purpose is to identify various smart materials for smart engineering in various conditions.