Smart Materials By Nina Jessica Sarah Shauna Rachel

Smart Materials By Nina, Jessica, Sarah, Shauna, Rachel and Nikita

What is a smart material? A smart material is a material that changes in at least one way when exposed to a certain external condition. For example sunglasses that change colour have photochromic and thermo chromic pigments in them which react to temperature and light change to make them change colour. Can you name any smart materials?

We are now going to talk about a few of the continuously growing collecting, smart materials.

Resin To use it you need the resin and a catalyst to set it (shown to the right) Can be set with paint in to create different colours You can also set objects in resin Liquid to start with but will set quicker/slower depending on how much of the catalyst you use Resin can be used to do effects such as water and other liquids e. g. slushies

Polymorph can be used to make different shapes Add hot water to the granules to make them join together so they can be shaped Polymorph can be used to make sculptures It can also be used to join components together as well as making full products such as torches Polymorph is made from Styrofoam melted in acetone or gas mixed with milk and vinegar

How they can be used

Foldable Glass A new type of flexible ultra-thin glass has been publicly announced by the firm that developed Gorilla Glass (Corning), currently used to make screens of many mobile devices. Corning, the New York based Developer, has announced that the product can be wrapped around any device. It has been called by many “Willow Glass”. In smartphones it is useful as these devices are getting slimmer. The prototype demonstrated in Boston was as thin as a sheet of paper, and the company said that it can be made to be just 0. 05 mm thick - thinner than the current 0. 2 mm or 0. 5 mm displays. The firm has already started supplying customers developing new display and touch technology with samples of the product. It is planned to be used in smartphones as a backing screen to aid the use of touchscreen technology, but in time could be used in devices which are not flat. Here is an example of what the future may be like for flexible glass in this video by Corning. The material used to make Willow Glass is the result of the firm's glassmaking process called Fusion. The technique involves melting the ingredients at 500 C, and then producing a continuous sheet that can be rolled out in a mechanism similar to a traditional printing press.

Nano Flakes • These are tiny silicon flakes, which are coated with a titanium compound. • If mixed with polymers or clear varnishes, they are very good at scattering light. • If you coat an object with these nano flakes, the colour you see them as will change depending on the angle you view them from.

Thermochromic (Heat Sensitive) Plastic: Thermochromic materials change colour when they sense a change in temperature. This could be used in your product if it is to be used for children to ensure it is as safe as possible. It is also fun for children to play around with! Heat sensitive plastic and other types of heat sensitive materials aren’t just used for products for children. Knowing how hot your food or drink is could be useful for anyone! Mainly, this plastic is used for a safety precaution. Some examples of its uses in products are on the next slide. . .

Uses: Babies’ cutlery Cups Food packaging Contact thermometres A special calendar Thermochromic materials used in. . . - Batteries - Kettles - Mood rings

More information The polymer is embedded and can be the cause of thermochromic effect. The origin of thermochromic effect can be multifarious (so it can come from changes of light reflection and absorption, for example). I was unable to find an exact price online as there is very little information online which I could find. However, I do not think (from what I can see) that it is out of the question for you and your products if you wanted to use it.

What have you learnt so far? Thank You for listening