Chapter 21:Overview of Liquid-crystal Elastomers, Magnetic Shape-Memory Materials, Fullerenes, Carbon Nanotubes, Nonionic Smart Polymers and Electrorheological Fluids as Other Intelligent and Multifunctional Materials

Liquid-crystal elastomers were first discussed by Finkelmann et al.1 These materials can be used as an actuator by inducing nematic–isotropic phase transition due to, e.g., a temperature increase that causes them to shrink, as described in a thorough review on these intelligent multifunctional mater...