Smart Materials event at Southampton Boat Show, 16 September 2008
Venue: Southampton Boat Show
The University of Southampton is arranging a SMART.MAT event at the Southampton Boat Show on Tuesday, 16 September. This free event will start at 3pm and conclude with a drinks and networking reception starting at 5.30pm.
SMART.MAT is part of the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network and this event will introduce the concept of Smart materials and opportunities for developing applications in a variety of marine craft and offshore applications. The definition of Smart materials is broad and can include materials, surfaces, fluids, functions, structures and coatings that are in some way Smart by virtue of the way they behave in response to stimuli such as for example heat, pressure, light and strain. Materials that are 'smart' are therefore multi-functional, and additional functions can be achieved without interventions.
For the Marine sector, Smart materials could help improve operational efficiency and reliability of marine craft by reducing fuel consumption and wear on machinery or by indicating when servicing is required or if a system or structural fault is developing. An example of a Smart material application is found in the control strut of a greenhouse skylight that adjusts ventilation in response to temperature, or an embedded grid in a composite structure that measures strain and warns if safe load limits are exceeded.
This event is intended to stimulate interest in this growing area of materials science and encourage knowledge transfer from R&D, academic and other industrial sectors to create commercial applications and benefits for the marine industry. Full event information will be available online shortly at http://www.soton.ac.uk/business and for information about Smart materials go to http://www.smartmat.org
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