Smart Materials: Considerations on Earth and in Space

This book provides in-depth coverage of smart materials, including electroactive polymers (EAPs), synthetic muscle, pneumatic artificial muscle, soft pneumatics, hydro-muscle, and other cutting-edge transformational smart material technologies. It looks at ways smart materials respond to stimuli, such as electricity, pressure, temperature, magnetism, or light. State-of-the-art developments in EAP based actuation and pneumatics are covered, including nanotechnology, soft robotics, EAP considerations for NASA applications and thermal control of satellites, control of mirrors using dielectric elastomeric actuators, and biomimetic design and function in robotics and prosthetics.  A detailed analysis of the challenges of smart materials on Earth and in space is included, with an interview about considerations and training for Missions to Moon and Mars. This book is a must-read within the smart material and space communities, from tech savvy students to industry professionals.

Lenore Rasmussen, PhD, is the CTO and Founder of Ras Labs, and she is also an adjunct professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where she created and teaches the graduate course “Smart Materials and Actuators (and Biomimicry)” through the Robotics Engineering Department.  Her corporate experience includes Johnson & Johnson.  While in grad school at Purdue, a relative suffered a traumatic farm injury, and she investigated prostheses, but was disappointed with what was available in the marketplace.  Her drive to advance prosthetic technology led her to invent Synthetic Muscle™ – electroactive polymers (EAPs) that contract and expand at low voltages, which garnered attention in the robotics community.  Dr. Rasmussen is a recognized global leader in the EAP industry with multiple patents and publications, presentations at global conferences, including the SPIE Electroactive Polymers Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) Conferences, Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) conferences and world congresses, and robotics meetings and consortia, and multi-media communication, including NASA TV.  She holds a PhD in Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry specialty, from Virginia Tech, MS in Biology, Biophysics Specialty, from Purdue University, and double major Bachelor of Science degrees in biochemistry and chemistry from Virginia Tech.