TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO SMART MATERIALS ----------------------------- pg

(Garrido, Arnel Angelito IV R.)
TYPES OF MATERIALS ------------------------------------------------------- pg
(Pallorina, Regan C.)
Wood
Metals
Polymers
Ceramics
Composites
COMPARISON BETWEEN MATERIALS --------------------------------- pg
TYPES OF SMART MATERIALS ------------------------------------------- pg
(De Vera, Ruth Abegail A. & Sanchez, Kimberly Claire P.)
Piezoelectric
Electrostrictive
Magnetostrictive
Thermoelectric
Shape Memory Alloys
Photochromic
APPLICATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------- pg
(Narag, Edaleen C.)
INTRODUCTION TO SMART MATERIALS

Garrido, Arnel Angelito IV R.

 INTRODUCTION TO SMART MATERIALS
With the development of material science, many new, high-quality and cost-efficient materials
have come into use in various field of engineering. In the last ten decades, the materials became
multifunctional and required the optimization of different characterization and properties. With the last
evolution, the concept has been driving towards composite materials and recently, the next evolutionary
step is being contemplated with the concept of smart materials. Smart materials are new generation
materials surpassing the conventional structural and functional materials. These materials possess adaptive
capabilities to external stimuli, such as loads or environment, with inherent intelligence. (Rogers, 1988;
Rogers et al., 1988) defined smart materials as materials, which possess the ability to change their physical
properties in a specific manner in response to specific stimulus input. The stimuli could be pressure,
temperature, electric and magnetic fields, chemicals, hydrostatic pressure or nuclear radiation. The
associated changeable physical properties could be shape, stiffness, viscosity or damping. Takagi (1990)
explained it as intelligent materials that respond to environmental changes at the most optimum conditions
and reveal their own functions according to the environment.
Smartness describes self-adaptability, self-sensing, memory and multiple functionalities of the
materials or structures. These characteristics provide numerous possible applications for these materials
and structures in aerospace, manufacturing, civil infrastructure systems, biomechanics and environment.
Self-adaptation characteristics of smart structures are a great benefit that utilizes the embedded adaptation
of smart materials like shape memory alloys. By changing their properties, smart materials can detect
faults and cracks and therefore are useful as a diagnostic tool. This characteristic can be utilized to activate
the smart material embedded in the host material in a proper way to compensate for the fault. This
phenomenon is called self-repairing effect.
 TYPES OF MATERIALS
AND
COMPARISON OF MATERIALS

Pallorina, Regan C.
 TYPES OF MATERIALS
1. WOOD
- It is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in
the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is
an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers
that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin
that resists compression.
- Wood has been used for thousands of years for fuel, as
a construction material, for
making tools and weapons, furniture and paper.

2. METALS
- It is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance,
and conducts electricity and heat relatively well.
- Metals are typically malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets) or ductile (can be
drawn into wires). A metal may be a chemical element such as iron, or an alloy such
as stainless steel.

3. POLYMERS
- Polymeric materials are conventionally referred
to as ‘plastics’.
- Polymers are formed by combining together a
large number of basic chemical units (monomer
molecules) to form long chain molecules
(polymers).
- Carbon is the main building block of polymer
materials but one or more other elements such as
hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine and oxygen are part
of this building block.
4. CERAMICS
- A ceramic is an inorganic non-metallic solid made up of either metal or non-metal compounds
that have been shaped and then hardened by heating to high temperatures.
- In general, they are hard, corrosion-resistant and brittle.
- 'Ceramic' comes from the Greek word meaning ‘pottery’. The clay-based domestic wares, art
objects and building products are familiar to us all, but pottery is just one part of the ceramic
world.
- Nowadays the term ‘ceramic’ has a more expansive meaning and includes materials like
glass, advanced ceramics and some cement systems as well.

Traditional Ceramics

5. COMPOSITES
- A composite material is made by
combining two or more materials –
often ones that have very different
properties.
- The two materials work together to
give the composite unique
properties. However, within the
composite you can easily tell the
different materials apart as they do
not dissolve or blend into each
other.
- The biggest advantage of modern composite materials is that they are light as well as strong.
By choosing an appropriate combination of matrix and reinforcement material, a new material
can be made that exactly meets the requirements of a particular application.
- The downside is often the cost. Although the resulting product is more efficient, the raw
materials are often expensive.
COMPARISON BETWEEN MATERIALS
TYPES OF SMART MATERIALS

De Vera, Ruth Abegail A.

Sanchez, Kimberly Claire P.
 TYPES OF SMART MATERIALS
1. THERMOELECTRIC
- These materials, when subjected to any temperature difference, produces proportional voltage
output. The reverse effect is also true.
- It shows the thermoelectric effect in a strong or convenient form.
o The thermoelectric effect is a direct conversion of temperature differences to
electric voltage and vice versa via a thermocouple.
- While all materials have a nonzero thermoelectric effect, in most materials it is too small to be
useful. However, low-cost materials that have a sufficiently strong thermoelectric effect (and other
required properties) could be used in applications including power generation and refrigeration.
- Thermoelectric materials are used in thermoelectric systems for cooling or heating in niche
applications, and are being studied as a way to regenerate electricity from waste heat.
- A commonly used thermoelectric material in such applications is bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3).
o It is a gray powder that is a compound of bismuth and tellurium also known as
bismuth(III) telluride. It is a semiconductor, which, when alloyed
with antimony or selenium, is an efficient thermoelectric material for refrigeration or
portable power generation.

2. SHAPE MEMORY ALLOYS (Smart Metal, Memory Metal, Muscle Wire, Smart
Alloy)
- It is an alloy that "remembers" its original shape and that when deformed returns to its pre-
deformed shape when heated.
- Martensite exists at lower temperatures, and austenite exists at higher temperatures.
- When a SMA is in martensite form at lower temperatures, the metal can easily be deformed into
any shape. When the alloy is heated, it goes through transformation from martensite to austenite.
- In the austenite phase, the memory metal "remembers" the shape it had before it was deformed.
- From the stress vs. temperature graph below, one can see that at low stress and low temperature,
martensite exists. At higher temperature and higher stress, austenite exists.
- The memory transfer temperature is the temperature that the memory metal or alloy changes
back to the original shape that it was before deformation. This temperature can be very precise,
within 1 or 2 degrees of the desired temperature.
- Some applications are :
o Dental Wires : used for braces and dental
arch wires, memory alloys maintain their
shape since they are at a constant
temperature, and because of the super
elasticity of the memory metal, the wires
retain their original shape after stress has
been applied and removed.
o Eyeglass Frame : In certain commercials,
eyeglass companies demonstrate eyeglass
frames that can be bent back and forth, and
retain their shape. These frames are made
from memory metals as well, and
demonstrate super-elasticity.
3. PHOTOCHROMIC MATERIALS
- Photochromic materials change reversibly color with changes in light intensity.
- Usually, they are colorless in a dark place, and when sunlight or ultraviolet radiation is applied
molecular structure of the material changes and it exhibits color. When the relevant light source is
removed the color disappears.
- Changes from one color to another color are possible mixing photochromic colors with base colors.
They are used in paints, inks, and mixed to mold or casting materials for different applications.
- Photochromic lenses become dark when they are exposed to UV Radiation
- Once the UV Radiation is removed, the lenses gradually return to their normal state. They can be
either be made of glass and plastic.

- General materials are:

o Azobenzene
o Diarylethene
o Spiropyran
o Silver Chloride
APPLICATIONS OF SMART MATERIALS

Narag, Edaleen C.
 APPLICATIONS OF SMART MATERIALS
Smart materials find a wide range of applications due to their varied response to external stimuli.
The different areas of application can be in our day to day life, aerospace, civil engineering applications
and mechatronics to name a few.

Aerospace

Mechatronics
The scope of application of smart material includes solving engineering problems with unfeasible
efficiency and provides an opportunity for creation of new products that generate revenue. Important
feature related to smart materials and structures is that they encompass all fields of science and
engineering. As far as the technical applications of smart materials is concerned, it involves composite
materials embedded with fiber optics, actuators, sensors, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMSs),
vibration control, sound control, shape control, product health or lifetime monitoring, cure monitoring,
intelligent processing, active and passive controls, self-repair (healing), artificial organs, novel indicating
devices, designed magnets, damping aero elastic stability and stress distributions. Smart structures are
found in automobiles, space systems, fixed-and rotary-wing aircrafts, naval vessels, civil structures,
machine tools, recreation and medical devices. The kind of ‘smartness’ shown by these materials is
generally programmed by material composition, special processing, introduction of defects or by
modifying the micro-structure, so as to adapt to the various levels of stimuli in a controlled fashion. Like
smart structures, the terms ‘smart and ‘intelligent’ are used interchangeably for smart materials. Takagi
(1990) defined intelligent materials as the materials which respond to environmental changes at the most
optimum conditions and manifest their own functions according to the environment. The feedback
functions within the material are combined with properties and functions of the materials. Smart systems
also sense their environment and respond, but are not constructed from a single material. They may
incorporate smart materials, but can also be constructed using traditional technology. Pacemakers are a
smart system designed to respond to an irregular heart rate with an electrical impulse that regulates it.
Vardan and Vardan (2002) reported that smart system refers to a device which can sense changes in its
environment and can make an optimal response by changing its material properties, geometry, mechanical
or electromagnetic response. Both the sensor and the actuator functions with their appropriate feedback
must be properly integrated. According to (Takagi, 1990), the system could lose its application or could
be dangerous if the response is too slow or too fast.
There are many possibilities for such materials and structures in the manmade world. Engineering
structures could operate at the very limit of their performance envelopes and to their structural limits
without fear of exceeding either. These structures could also give maintenance engineers a full report on
performance history, as well as the location of defects, whilst having the ability to counteract unwanted
or potentially dangerous conditions such as excessive vibration, and affect self repair. The Office of
Science and Technology Foresight Programme has stated that `Smart materials … will have an increasing
range of applications (and) the underlying sciences in this area … must be maintained at a standard which
helps achieve technological objectives’, which means that smart materials and structures must solve
engineering problems with hitherto unachievable efficiency, and provide an opportunity for new wealth
creating products.
Some common smart materials and associated stimulus response are listed in figure (Fig. 1).

Smart materials and systems have a wide range of applications. Investment in research and
development is driven by factors such as legislation, reducing waste and demand for higher quality of life.
Structures such as buildings, bridges, pipelines, ships and aircraft must be strongly designed and regularly
inspected to prevent ‘wear and tear’ damage from causing disastrous failures. Inspection is expensive and
time consuming, while designing to prevent damage can compromise performance. With some modern
materials, damage can be internally serious but leave very little surface evidence.
Piezoelectric – On applying a mechanical stress to these materials it generates an electric current.
Piezoelectric microphones transform changes in pressure caused by sound waves into an electrical signal.
Shape memory – After deformation of these materials they remember their original shape and
return back to its original shape when heated .Applications include shape memory stents – tubes threaded
into arteries that expand on heating to body temperature to allow increased blood flow.
Thermo chromic – These are the materials which change their color in response to changes in
temperature. They have been used in bathplugs that change color when the water is too hot.
Photo chromic – These materials change color in response to changes in light conditions. Uses
include security ink sand dolls that ‘tan’ in the sun.
Magneto rheological: it is a fluid that fluids become solid when placed in a magnetic field. They
can be used to construct dampers that suppress vibrations. These can be used for buildings and bridges to
suppress the damaging effects of,
For example, high winds or earthquakes.