MAE 438LEC—Smart Materials

Introduces concepts and applications of smart materials, which refer to materials that can sense a certain stimulus and, in some cases, even react to the stimulus in a positive way so as to counteract negative effects of the stimulus. Strain/stress sensors and actuators are emphasized. Topics include intrinsically smart structural materials, piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials, magnetostrictive materials, electrorheological and magnetorheological fluids, shape memory materials and optical fibers.