A concept of intelligent materials and the current activities of intelligent materials in Japan

The development of intelligent materials and structures is anew and rapidly evolving field which is bringing together researchersfrom many diverse fields, such as medicine, aeronautics, materialsscience and computer engineering. The conceptual background ofintelligent materials is a combination of advanced aspects of materialsscience and computer engineering which seeks to create compositematerials systems which can sense and respond to environmentalchanges in ways which maximize their function. Several basic models ofpossible intelligent materials are discussed as well as the present status ofthis field in Japan.