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Global Advances in Smart Material Technology
Frost & Sullivan, Dec 2004
Advances in Nanotechnology to Revolutionize Smart Materials Technology
The advent of nanotechnology is set to accelerate development of improved and sophisticated smart material technologies. Researchers are now considering the possibilities of designing, altering, and controlling material structure at nanoscale levels in order to enhance material performance and process efficacy. The advancements in nanomaterials are expected to increase product quality and performance, and they are finding acceptance in diverse applications such as sensors and electronic devices. Nanosensor particles assist in creating tools for analyzing living cells and serve as reporters in industrial process monitoring. In the future, smart materials are likely to derive their success from nanotechnology that is likely to be instrumental in creating more varied, complex, and intelligent systems.
This Frost & Sullivan research service focuses on the global trends and developments in smart material technologies. The study covers developments at various universities, R&D centers at leading companies, and other research institutions in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. It also discusses the various drivers and restraints that govern the global smart materials market. Participants can identify potential collaborators, stay ahead of the competition, and stay shoulder-to-shoulder with critical developments.
Smart Materials Expected to Cater to Diverse Applications
The advances and improvements in smart materials allow them to cater to a diverse set of applications, especially in the defense, aerospace, healthcare, electronics, and semiconductor industries. Although very few of these applications are at present commercially viable, their potential for future acceptance is irrefutable. Smart materials are particularly useful for cellular production, observes the analyst. With the addition of cellular fluid and by regulating the cell’s shape and mechanical conditions, smart materials - especially polymers - can mimic these cells’ interactions and exhibit effective results.
The computer industry is also adopting smart materials for read/write head micropositioners and next-generation data storage devices. Researchers are developing piezo-accelerometers that anticipate and correct head-motion-related read/write errors. In the healthcare markets, smart material technologies are making their way into several analytical devices for detecting and diagnosing complex medical conditions. With future advances, smart materials are also likely to be useful for fabricating insulin pumps and drug delivery devices.
New Technologies Increase the Pace of Research into Smart Materials
For faster development of innovative smart materials, base technologies such as robotics, micro-fluidics, and micromachining need to be brought on par with the production requirements of the materials. The successful integration of the hardware and software based infrastructures accompanied by the application of combinatorial chemistry is set to increase technology development in the field of smart materials and systems by leaps and bounds, observes the analyst. High-throughput screening (HTS) consisting of hardware interface tools for technology assessment, decision control, and logistics is also expected to accelerate research into smart materials.
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