Smart/intelligent systems employ active materials as sensors/actuators to respond to environmental conditions for next-generation machines and structures - applications ranging from everyday life to space exploration missions, from civilian products to military needs, from robots to information/communication technology. It is not surprising, then, that the development of smart materials systems and structures demand higher performance sensors/actuators with new and reliable functions and a fully integrated composite system design. This requires the combination of active and passive materials systems, often including the coupling of relevant mechanical, electrical, magnetic, thermal or other physical/chemical properties. This book bridges the fields of smart materials, sensing and actuating devices, and intelligent/smart systems, and provides an opportunity for researchers from related disciplines to build an interdisciplinary research field and community. Topics include: ferroelectrics and piezoelectrics; nanomaterials and nanofabrication; shape-memory alloys and magnetomaterials; active polymers and soft matters; and other materials, devices and characterization.
