Development Smart/Nervous Material With Novel Sensor Embedding Techniques: A Review

The paper discusses recent attempts to support the development of nervous materials based on structural health monitoring, augmented with corrective actions using actuators against any external effect or impending failure within the structure. This configuration features embedded sensors inside materials of structural importance e.g. metal and composites that could include comprehensive monitoring in terms of coverage area of the structure, variety of parameters to be measured, types of signals received and with fast information processing capabilities. Fast processing of information would allow the smart material to respond quickly and effectively to any external stimuli e.g. force, pressure or temperature. A review is provided to establish grounds to work on novel methods to embed off-the-shelf sensors for the development of smart material/structures. Actuation options have not been considered in this current review. Existing embedding technologies are reviewed for the sake of refining direction of research and possibilities on improvement of plausible methods. It is envisaged throughout this review to establish a clear understanding of the existing methods and develop improved and alternatives for performance improvement when developing smart and nervous materials.