Smart Materials

Technology Map Contents

May 2008

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Technology Map Detailed Contents

Importance of the Technology

The Technology in Brief

• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Types of Smart Materials
  • Field-Dependent Solids
  • Piezoelectric Materials
  • Magnetostrictive Materials
  • Electrostrictive Polymers
  • Electrorheological Fluids
  • Magnetorheological Fluids
  • Shape-Memory Materials
  • Smart Glasses
  • Other Materials

Commercial Development Parameters

• Demand Factors
• General Constraints
• Synergistic Technologies
• Competing Technologies
• Required Resources
• Regulatory Factors

Areas to Monitor

• High-Volume Applications
• Micromachining and Microelectromechanical Systems
• Technology Migration between Performance-Dominant and Cost-Dominant Markets
• Tactile Sensation for Human-Machine Interfaces
• Social Change and an Aging Population
• MEMS in Structures
• Increase in R&D Funds
• High-Response Materials
• Recycling of Electronics
• Artificial Muscles
• Nanotechnology
• Smart Materials in Buildings
• Increasing Functionality
• Metamaterials

Implications of Commercialization

• Penetration of Consumer Markets
• Automotive-Industry Demand
• Entry into Mass-Market Applications
• The Era of the Autoadaptive Structure
• Delays in Mass Commercialization
• Environmental Benefits

Opportunities

• Automotive and Ground Transport
• Aerospace and Defense
• Medical
• Industrial, Power, and Construction
• Electronics
• Consumer Products
• Robotics

Players

Updates

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Abbreviations