Intelligent materials fundamentals

However, again, there is the underlying fundamental requirement that the creation of intelligent material systems must involve the identification of molecular systems whose chemical and electrical properties can be manipulated and controlled. 

When the development of a scientific field expands, the need for handbooks arises, wherein the information that appeared earlier in journals and conference proceedings is systematically and selectively presented. The sensor and actuator Held is now in this position. For this reason, Elsevier Science took the initiative to develop a series of handbooks with the name "Handbook of Sensors and Actuators" which will contain the most meaningful background material that is important for the sensor and actuator field. Titles like Fundamentals of Transducers, Thick Film Sensors, Magnetic Sensors, Micromachining, Piezoelectric Crystal Sensors, Robot Sensors and Intelligent Sensors will be part of this series. 

This claim becomes intelligible if we consider more carefully the nature of the electrode material. It is necessary to choose a certain theory among the various ones which have been proposed—with more or less justification—on the electrical mechanism of reaction. I select that one which seems to me to have the best foundation. The fundamental idea of this theory has been derived from Tafel.2 Its general usefulness... 

In further quest for development of more efficient materials, clue had been provided by ongoing mixed (interdisciplinary) research. Intelligently the immediate inspiration was drawn from mixed systems (i.e., blends, alloys or composites) based on conventional polymers, metals, and ceramics. Soon it was realized that the already established wide applicability of CPs/ICPs can be further expended by formation of multiscale/multiphase systems, e.g., a wide variety of electronically, electrochemically, and/or optoelec-tronically active blends (BLNs), conjugated copolymers (CCPs) and composites (CMPs) [both bulk or nanocomposites (NCs)] or hybrids (HYBs) [11,14-16,52,109,113,120,128,131,132,191-205]. The next section of the chapter covers the fundamental aspects of CP-based BLNs, CCPs, and NCs/ HYBs. In particular, their definitions (including etymology), types, properties, synthetic routes, and practical applications have been discussed with the help of suitable examples from the open literature. 

Today, important developments in this field are foreseen that will further underline the proftosal that intelligent synthesis, combined with profound conceptual considerations and state-of-the-art analyses, can provide access to new dimensions in polymer and materials sciences. Once the most burning fundamental issues have been clarified, the next important targets will be not only to develop the methods for structural variation of 2-D polymers but also to provide access to these materials on a large scale at an aflbrdable price, and with a technology that allows for their continuous production. If the transition is made from academic research to industrial production, 2-D polymers will be able to demonstrate their fiiU potential. 

The textile industry still constitutes one of Europe s most relevant industrial sectors for both the economy and society. The very latest trend in textile and linked industries is to create miscellaneous new products which possess the potential of interacting with the surrounding environment through active feedback. This class of new interactive material is termed intelligent textile structures or smart textiles. In order to make interactive fabrics available at the industrial level it is necessary to apply a multidisciplinary approach. The route to develop and optimise multifunctional material involves in the same way textile engineering and colloid chemistry. The complexity of the production process for modern composite materials is a real challenge to textile engineering but the fundamentals of interfacial and colloid science are indispensable to characterise and control the... 

To make each volume sufficiently intelligible, the necessary fundamentals from chemistry, physics, and engineering are described or referred to via citations. We see this as the best way to enable all our potential business partners who are not already familiar with glass and glass ceramics to compare these materials with alternatives on a thoroughly scientific basis. We hope that this will lead to intensive technical discussions and collaborations on new fields of applications of our materials and products, to our mutual advantage. 

Monitoring polymerization reactions has both fundamental and applied motivations. At the basic level, simultaneous monitoring of the various reaction characteristics, such as the evolution of copolymer composition and molecular weight, can reveal the underlying kinetics and mechanisms involved in reactions and also illuminate ways in which the reaction may deviate from what is ideally thought to occur. The ability to monitor reactions will become increasingly important as new, stimuli-responsive, and intelligent polymers are developed at the frontiers of twenty-first century materials science. 

Carpi F, De Rossi D, Kombluh R, Pelrine R, Sommer-Larsen P (2008) Dielectric elastomers as electromechanical transducers fundamentals, materials, devices, models and apphcations of an emerging electroactive polymer technology. Elsevier, Oxford/Amsterdam Chee CYK, Tong L, Steven GP (1998) A review on the modelling of piezoelectric sensors and actuators incorporated in intelligent structures. J htteU Mater Syst Struct 9 3-19 Chopra 1 (2002) Review of state of art of smart structures and integrated systems. AIAA J 40 2145-2187... 

---