Smart materials, also called intelligent or responsive materials,[1][page needed] are designed materials that have one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, moisture, electric or magnetic fields, light, temperature, pH, or chemical compounds.
[2][3] Smart materials are the basis of many applications, including sensors and actuators, or artificial muscles, particularly as electroactive polymers (EAPs).
[4][page needed][5][page needed][6][page needed][7][page needed][8][page needed][9][page needed] There are a number of types of smart material, of which are already common.
Some examples are as following: