Zeitschrift für Materialwissenschaften und Ingenieurwesen

New and Emerging Smart Materials and Their Applications: A Review

Abstract

Julia Laws and Radhakrishnaiah Parachuru*

Smart materials are materials that have intrinsic sensing, controlling, actuation or information processing capabilities in their microstructures. These materials are used to create smart systems containing multifunctional parts that can perform sensing, control, and actuation. Smart systems often exhibit high functionality such as self-diagnosis and self-restoration. Smart materials are being developed for applications in numerous manufacturing sectors such as in the aerospace industry, biomedical industry, and general manufacturing industries. This review paper covers some of the recent advances in the area of smart materials and the enhanced functional capabilities these materials provide for a range of smart applications.