Introduction

摘要

The Fourth International Conference on Smart Materials and Nanotechnology in Engineering (SMN 2013) was co-organized by Harbin Institute of Technology, University of Southern Queensland, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and took place 10-12 July 2013 at Gold Coast, Australia. Recently, the design of a new material with a multi-functional capability has become a key research focus in all materials science and engineering discipline. "Smart material" is one having a structure at the nano-structural level that responds in a particular and controlled way to influences upon it. These range from magnetically changed materials, to "memory" molecules that return to their original form, to materials that generate an electric charge when pressed, twisted, or warped. To some extent, a structure made by this material or more than one type of this material incorporated with an appropriated sensor system has been well defined as a "smart structure", that can be used for the implementation of a damage and performance detection strategy for aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering and other applications.