Smart materials

An exciting answer to the future demand for raw materials

Smart materials have extraordinary capabilities: They adapt almost magically to environmental changes such as light, heat or mechanical stress without human intervention.
They remember their shape and even repair themselves. When used to store energy in electric vehicles, smart materials reduce pollution compared to petrol and diesel cars.

When used in greener batteries, they help improve air quality. Another entry into the world of smart materials is self-shading windows or objects that can remember their size or shape. Today, smart materials are already an integral, cost-effective and resource-saving part of medicine, architecture, aeronautics, automotive engineering and 3D printing.

Intelligent, thinking materials

Intelligent materials react to differences in temperature and humidity or have a positive effect on the indoor climate. Science and industry have started to develop marketable products for exciting new applications.

At smart³, we are engaged in the following four classes of materials:

Shape memory alloys (SMA)

Thermal shape memory alloys are wires or sheets that change shape in a predefined way when exposed to thermal energy. They independently sense and respond to an external stimulus in a predefined, reliable, repeatable and reversible manner. At the same time, they are extremely light in relation to their power density. SMAs therefore provide elegant solutions to a wide range of actuator and sensor tasks. For example, actuators in automotive and aerospace applications can be greatly simplified compared to previous solutions and can be extended to include temperature-based functions.

Piezoceramics

Piezoceramic materials generate charge separation under the influence of a mechanical force; when the material is deformed, electrically charged regions are formed. These functional materials have extremely short response times and, in addition to the quasi-static range, can also be used to excite high-frequency vibrations up to the gigahertz range. Piezoceramics are already used as standard in the automotive industry, for example as injectors for fuel-efficient diesel and petrol engines, and in medical technology as ultrasonic sensors.

Magnetic shape memory materials (MSM)

Under the influence of a magnetic field, MSMs can change their shape by up to 12%, making them one of the most promising classes of smart materials. They are ideal for use as actuators, for generating small amounts of electrical power, and as sensors. MSM actuators offer significant advantages in terms of work output in relation to operating frequency, energy efficiency and lifetime.

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA)

As a subset of electroactive polymers, DE can be used in actuators, sensors and energy-converting applications. They are light, compact, fast and silent. For example, DE can be used to make energy harvesting modules that generate electrical energy from vibrations or oscillations. These modules have been reported to be more than 80% efficient. This makes them far superior to conventional technologies and solar panels.

From research to industrial application

Smart materials have arrived in industry.
Their applications are diverse, ranging from health to climate protection, from energy generation to production technology, and from lifestyle to mobility.

The four application areas - smart production, smart living, smart health and smart mobility - are examined in more detail.

Smart Production

Smart Production is used to develop components needed to enhance production systems and processes. The focus is on durability, robustness and high availability of components.

Process-related sensors and actuators and self-adapting components

A key trend in production technology is the development of hybrid processes and self-optimizing systems.

Status information should be obtained as close to the process as possible, and interventions should be made as close to the point of action as possible. Thanks to their ability to be structurally integrated, smart materials are particularly suitable for use in this area. Their material properties also make them ideal for self-adapting machine components that react autonomously and independently to changing conditions.

Alternative actuator technology for automation components

Conventional actuators such as electromagnets are increasingly reaching their limits in terms of miniaturization, energy efficiency and dynamics.

Smart materials offer the opportunity to overcome these limitations and establish replacement or integrated products.

Flexible production systems

Increasing customization and decreasing batch sizes are forcing manufacturers to make their production systems more flexible.

Actuator-sensor components made of functional materials can replace or supplement conventional components here. Thanks to maximum miniaturization combined with a growing range of functions, they can be placed directly at the interface between the workpiece and the tool, thus enabling direct intervention options in the interface design.

Smart Living

This field is part of our everyday environment. The projects we have developed in this context are dedicated to lifestyle products and building technology applications.

There are two major areas of focus:

Smart consumer products

The goal is to bring the benefits of smart materials to consumer products. For this reason, engineers, designers and social scientists are equally involved in the development of new products. The resulting product design should significantly increase the acceptance of products based on smart materials.

Smart buildings and building technologies

To increase energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings, members of smart³ are developing products for energy generation and autonomous systems. The latter offer, for example, the possibility of automatically adapting buildings to environmental conditions or breaking new ground in building design. Thanks to the use of smart materials, this is possible in a space-saving manner and without complex sensor or drive technology.

Smart Health

In the case of implants, medical devices and instruments in particular, the R&D activities of our members focus on expanding the range of functions. The projects extended by smart materials are characterized by their actuator and sensor functions.

Our project partners are working on the following lead applications in this field:

Intelligent implants and aids

In the field of medical technology, implants and aids that actively support the healing process and preventive aids are to be developed in particular. A high degree of functional integration can be achieved by integrating functional materials. In particular, sensory applications (e.g. for recording the patient's condition directly on the implant) and actuator applications (e.g. active anchoring of implants) are the focus of development.

Intelligent instruments

Equipping conventional passive surgical instruments with sensory and actuator functionality is another area of development in the field of smart health. For example, the integration of smart materials provides surgeons with direct feedback on the patient's condition and the progress of the operation. Thanks to this feedback, it is possible to act much more sensitively.

Smart Mobility

The automotive, rail and aerospace industries are characterised by a high level of research intensity. At the same time, these industries are under constant pressure to innovate in terms of increasing functionality and reducing weight and energy requirements.

smart mobility is dedicated to the following key applications:

Sensor technology and energy harvesting

In the field of mobility, smart materials can be used to monitor safety-relevant components.

In addition to the development of energy-autonomous, wirelessly networked sensor nodes, the smart³ network is promoting the direct integration of sensor nodes into structural components. Piezo elements are also suitable for generating small amounts of energy from vibrations in the vehicle and for active noise suppression in the vehicle.

Adaptive shapes and surfaces

Due to their high integration capability, smart materials are particularly suitable as actuators in adaptive surfaces.

One example is customisable interior components. Surfaces and components can not only be designed individually, but also equipped with hidden intelligent functions.

Alternative actuators

Especially in the field of mobility, there is a growing demand for miniaturisation and functional densification, as well as for lightweight construction and energy efficiency. Smart materials offer the opportunity for leapfrog innovation.