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Smart is the New Nano

Like 'nano' before it, 'smart materials' is being used as an umbrella term for unrelated technologies.

By: Anthony Vicari

Lux Research Analyst

Since the term “smart material” originated over 30 years ago, referring to material capable of changing its properties automatically in response to an external stimulus (the stimulus or response may be mechanical, electrical, magnetic, optical, thermal, or chemical), interest in the topic has risen steadily. This trend is shown below by the rising frequency of use of the term in print sources tracked by Google Books (the y axis indicates how often the phrase “smart material&#82...

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