ABSTRACT
The idea of intelligent and smart materials evolved in the late 1980s with the purpose of establishing a new area in material science to take into account the interrelation between materials and the natural (external) environment [1-4]. The term smart materials refers to a class of monolithic and composite media having inherent intelligence together with self-adaptive capabilities to external stimuli. This newly developed concept aims to create artificially designed systems possessing sensor, processor, and actuator functions internally in the material itself. Electrical field-and magnetic field-responsive materials are a specific subset of smart materials which can adaptively change their physical properties in an external electrical or magnetic field, respectively. At present, there are several adaptive materials that can actuate or alter their properties in response to a changing environment. Certain polymer gels represent one class of these materials [5, 6]. Their unique properties based on volume phase transition as a response to a small change in external conditions make such systems useful. Application of the principles in engineering promises new materials and technologies with a broad spectrum of biomedical and chemical applications including muscle-like soft linear actuators in advanced robotics, micromachines, biomimetic energy-transducing devices, selective absorbents, sensors, and controlled drug-delivery systems.
