Acta Scientific Applied Physics

Volume 3 Issue 3 March 2023

Review Article

Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric

Materials: A Thorough Review

Arnab Chatterjee* Received: February 02, 2023

Pennsylvania State University, US Published: February 14, 2023
*Corresponding Author: Arnab Chatterjee, Pennsylvania State University, US. © All rights are reserved by Arnab
Chatterjee.

Abstract
The recent increase in demand for sensors motivated development of new classes of multifunctional materials. Smart materials
are recent class of multifunctional materials that undergo reversible extrinsic changes under application of external stimuli like pres-
sure, temperature, electric/magnetic field, and stress. This ability for reversibility demonstrates the performance of these materials
which in turn has led to the development of lighter, more energy-efficient innovative solutions for multipurpose applications. These
multifunctional materials find application as sensors/actuators. The use of these materials and their structural characteristics up to
this point has been well peer reviewed, but the relationship between sustainability considerations and the deployment of various
grades of smart materials has received lesser attention. this paper attempts to draw a more significant relationship between smart
materials and its notable applications through a detailed review of previous experimental, numerical, and conceptual studies, fol-
lowed by an overview of their behavior and properties. Finally, some notable recent applications and influence of deployment areas
of smart materials is discussed. This work lays a critical comparison between Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) and Piezoelectric (PZT)
material behavior and properties.
Keywords: PZT, SMAs, SHM, Monitoring, sensors, actuators

Introduction (TIMT) is an important indication of thermoelastic reversibility of

Smart Materials are recent class of materials that undergoes SMAs. The SMAs undergo mechanical deformation in martensite
a shape transformation under application of external stimuli like phase and its reversibility on heating designated as Shape Memory
stress, electric field, magnetic field and light [1-8]. The change in Effect (SME) or its deformation and reversibility in austenite phase
shape on application of external stimuli and its complete revers- designated as Superelastic Behavior (SE). This behavior is depicted
ibility on removal of external field is a significant response of these in a schematic format in Figure 1(a). During TIMT, the performance
smart materials. This reversibility is an important property to matrix is designated by critical transformation temperatures as-
demonstrate performance matrix of these smart materials. Hence, sociated with the phase transformation designated as Ms, Mf, As, Af
these materials have found significant demand as actuators, sen- and the associated enthalpy values for the transformation. Differen-
sors for aerospace, military, defense, medical and other applica- tial Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) calculates these critical tempera-
tions. Shape Memory Alloys undergoes a solid state thermoelastic tures and enthalpy associated with the transformation pathway.
phase transformation under application of stress and tempera- For deformation in martensite phase, the critical factors are the
tures. The crystallographic phase transformation takes place be- critical deformation stresses, actuation strain, and remanent strain.
tween a martensite (B19’) phase to austenite phase (B2) and the For deformation in austenite phase, the critical factors are the criti-
transformation is accommodated by twin boundaries which makes cal deformation stresses, pseudoelastic strain, and remanent plas-
it reversible. The Thermal Induced Martensite Transformation tic strain. The stress-strain relationships have been modelled by

Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.
Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review

30

constitutive equations. A schematic of stress-strain response of an

SMA is shown in Figure 2.

= strain, =transformation vector, =coefficient of thermal expan-

sion. D= Elastic modulus of the material which is, in turn, a function
of volume fraction of stress-induced martensite and austenite.

Figure 1: Behavior of (a) SMAs under application of stress and

temperature[9] (b) Piezoelectric material behavior under
application of stress and electric field[10].

Figure 2: Mechanical response of SMA at different temperatures

showing SME, SE and plastic deformation along with critical va-
Property Unit NiTi CuZnAl CuAlNi Fe-SMAs
lues that are estimated from stress-strain response curve [10].
Specific heat J/kg C 450-620 390-400 373-574 540
capacity
Thermal W/m K 8.6-18 54-120 70-75 8.4 The characteristic metric for the SMAs vary with composition,
conductivity
microstructure and underlying phases which in turn controls the
Density kg/m3 6450- 7450- 7100- 7200-
thermoelastic reversibility. A critical comparison of the metric
6500 8000 7200 7500
for different classes of SMAs is shown in Table 1. High stiffness,
Max Recoverable MPa 500-900 400-700 300-600 -
stress strength, and low production cost of these SMA have a led to wide
Number of thermal - 103 104 5x103 - range of applications in civil engineering. Fe-based SMAs are of two
cycles classes: The first group includes Fe–Pt, Fe–Pd, and Fe–Ni–Co alloys
Operation C -200-200-200-150 -200-200 - having temperature induced phase transition behavior similar to
temperature range Ni-Ti along with low thermal hysteresis, but no pseudoelasticity is
Hysteresis C 2-50 5-20 20-40 - observed. The second class are Fe– Ni–C and Fe–Mn–Si which dis-
Damping capacity SDC% 15-20 30-85 10-20 - play higher thermal hysteresis in phase transition along with exhi-
Recoverable strain % 5-10 - - 2.5-13 bition of Shape Memory Effect (SME). Low cost, excellent workabil-

Table 1: Critical Comparison of mechanical properties of ity, good weldability makes Fe–Mn–Si SMAs the most demanding
iron-based SMAs. Good shape recovery, feasibility of production,
different classes of SMAs[10
and excellent thermal and electricity conductivity of Cu-based SMAs
with or without ternary additional components like Zn, Al, and Sn
The thermomechanical constitutive relationship of Brinson for
excellent candidate for applications. Further Cu-based SMAs show
SMA wires under uniaxial loading can be simplified for isothermal
significant TIMT, along with an incomplete reverse martensitic tran-
conditions as [2]:
sition. However low thermal stability, high brittleness, of Cu-based
SMAs, have restricted their applications in certain fields and areas.
The class of Piezoelectric material (PZT) refers to a class of mate-
rial that shows significant electric polarization under application
Where σ is the applied stress, is the volume fraction of martens- of stress and vice-versa. The reversible conversion of mechanical
ite evolved during thermal and stress cycling. field to electric field is an important property of piezoelectric ma-

Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.
Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review

31

terial. Primary cell misalignment due to a link between mechanical

deformation and electron energy divergence results in this behav-
ior. The behavior of Piezoelectric material is shown in Figure 1(b).
For Piezoelectric materials 1D constitutive equations have been
used to model the behavior of a PZT and derive material properties
and parameters[2,7,11].

Where ε is the strain, σ is the stress, D is the electric displace-

ment, and ψE is the electric field. The elastic compliance, piezo-
Figure 4: Metrices that denotes the anisotropy properties of the
electric coupling and permittivity are denoted respectively by s, ϱ
piezoelectric materials[1,7]
and κ. The behavior under application of stress and electric field is
shown in Figure 3. The capacitance can then be calculated by the
following equation that relates the dimensions and permittivity of used to relate between the strain coefficient (d) and what is call the

the material. The capacitance of a PZT system is dependent on the voltage coefficient (g). The voltage coefficient is another property

size of the actuator. The simplified form can be expressed, when that is given as basic PZT material properties and has units of volt

canceling the free space permittivity [1]. meters/Newton (Vm/N).

Application of electrical potential difference can be produced

Where K = relative permittivity, A is actuator area, and t is the (ΔV) in a piezoelectric, when it is subjected to an external mechani-

thickness. cal stress. The polarization of ΔV depends on the direction of ap-

plied stress. In contrast, when ΔV is applied to these types of smart

PZT has the capability to store electric energy; hence it can act materials, they can change their size, thus the energy can be release

as a capacitor. The capacitance of the system plays a role in the as a mechanical form (Figure 3). This reversible process, could also

functionality of the piezoelectric actuator. The capacitance can be be found in either “contact electricity”, which electricity could be
produced with a friction process, or “pyro-electricity”, that heat can
generate electricity and contrariwise. In the other hand, when the
biasing voltage is applied orthogonal to the polarization of piezo-
electric material the sample will bend, which the direction of bend-
ing depends on the orientation of material. Based on the geometri-
cal shape, piezoelectric actuators are specified in some categories
with one dimension of freedom, 1-Degree of Freedom (DOF). The
first one is piezoelectric actuators that are made of Lead-Zirconate-
Titanate, also known as PZT Stacks. They can move a device with
accuracy of nanometer. These types of actuators are consisting
Figure 3: Schematic showing the behavior of a PZT under
of several piece of piezoelectric that arranged in a line. Next are
application of stress and voltage [3,9,11].
tube piezo actuators, which offer each radial and axial motion. Also,
shear piezo actuators are orthogonally connected to voltage source.
In addition, they are a constituent part of walking piezo motors.
Finally, bender piezo actuators that are produced by multilayer or
basically bimorph that could bend for several millimeters. The abil-

Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.
Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review

32

ity of these smart materials to control shapes with external stimuli Case evaluation: Nitinol SMA vs lead-titanate/zirconate piezo-
and consequent reversibility find its application in multiple areas. electric
Table 2 shows the various areas of application of SMAs and piezo-
electric materials. One of the cutting-edge applications is sensors. For case evaluation two common example of smart material has
been presented, Nitinol as SMAs and Lead-Titanate/Zirconate as
PZTs as shown in Figure 5. Table 6 shows the comparison between
Areas of applications
the sensor properties and performance matrix between NiTi mi-
Sensors Accelerometer, Pressure transducer, force trans-
ducer, acoustic transducers, microphone, impact croactuator [3,5,7,9,13] and PZT based material. As compared to
transducer, health monitoring, modal sensors other SMAs, Nitinols have higher strength to weight ratio, high oxi-
Actuators Precision manipulator, pressure generator, dation resistance, higher recovery stress, higher recoverable strain
displacement actuator, vibration isolation, compared to other class of SMAs. Nitinol undergoes a thermoelas-
ultrasonic motors, passive shunt damping, self-
sensing actuators tic crystallographic transformation from (B2) Austenite to (B19’)
monoclinic or (B19) orthorhombic crystal structure under appli-
Structures Vibration, noise, stress, strain, health monitor-
ing cation of stress/temperature and it reverses when the external
Machines/ Vibration and noise monitoring, strength, stimuli is removed [10,14-19]. Lead Titanate/zirconate is a class
mechanical optical systems, force-acceleration-pressure of PZT that has a crystallographic symmetry about the center atom.
systems measurements, rotor control
The atoms in the crystal are in ionic form and under application of
Medical and Disposable sensors, ultrasonic devices, preci- electric field a polarization takes place which in turn undergoes a
Biomedical sion devices like STM
mechanical deformation. The transformation takes place above a
Robotics/ Precision/micro robots, robot grippers, flexible
Mechatronics robot control, MEMS critical temperature called Curie Temperature (TC) [11,20-23]. It re-
verses to its original shape on removal of electric field. The degree
Smart Struc- Adaptive structures/composites, structural con-
tures trol, adaptive aircraft wings, helicopter blades, of reversibility is a property of smart material. Direct and converse
self-sensing and self-healing actuators, satellites piezoelectric effect, which both are of constant macroscopic vol-
Table 2: Application of Smart materials (PZT and SMAs)[4] ume can be differentiated. The direct piezoelectric effect induces
polarized electric field when a material is strained whereas the
converse piezoelectric effect causes a material to induce local strain
(a)
fields when polarized by an electric field. Piezoelectric ceramics
can both be used as sensor and actuator although polycrystalline
PZTs do not have piezoelectric characteristics in their original/as
received state which in turn can be induced through poling beneath
the Curie temperature at high dc electrical fields [15] leading to
an alignment of the polar axis of unit cells parallel to the applied
electric field leading to permanent mechanically deformation due
to the reorientation of domains [15-17,21,23-27]. The induced
(b) strain can be differentiated into the longitudinal, transversal and
shear effects, where the longitudinal effect is the strain parallel to
the electric field and in the polarization direction, the transversal ef-
fect is the in-plane Poisson strain, and the shear strain is vertical to
the electric field and parallel to the polarization direction [23-27].

Figure 5: Example of crystallographic transformation(a) Nitinol

(SMA) which undergoes transformation from B2 to B19/B19’ [12],
(b) Lead -Titanate/Zirconate that undergoes deformation under
application of potential [13].

Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.
Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review

33

Young’s Max actuator Density Operating Blocking Vol work/ Gravimetric work/
Material
modulus (GPa) strain (%) (g/cc) frequency (Hz) stress (MPa) cycle (J/cc) cycle (J/kg)
PZT 50-70 0.12-0.18 7.6 105 72 0.0108 1.42
NiTi 70-110 2-8 6.45 1 425 1.59 247

Table 6: Comparison of property of NiTi vs PZT shown by red box [28].

Cutting edge application SMAs vs PZT A notable application of PZT material is use as transducer for
A notable application of SMA is as intelligent textile. In this ap- Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The SHM is a non-destructive
plication, Nitinol wire is oven along with textile material which in testing (NDT), that blends high throughput sensors with algo-
turn can induce additional functionalities in textiles in response rithms for examining systemic health conditions [4,7,11,29]. Gen-
to ambient agitations. Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are able erally, SHM used in wide applications with its advanced technolo-
to enhance the quality of these type of intelligent clothes. Intelli- gies. An improvement of orthotropic and isotropic properties for
gent textiles can be given one or more properties like self-moving, piezoelectric transducers improves its properties significantly, like
sensitiveness to emotions, intrinsic cleaning, altering color or improvising the strength and toughness of structural material im-
shape. Since, softness of polymers are changed after glass transi- proves its performance. However, delamination in composite struc-
tion at a particular temperature, then they can be utilized to make tures reduces rigidity and strength which in turn reduce device re-
some textile for ventilation and regulation of body’s temperature. liability which through incorporation of piezoelectric transducers
The molecular volume of polymer is extended above glass transi- can perform health monitoring using the SHM [9,27,30-34]. This
tion temperature (Tg), and hence, it opens more space to exchang- detection can be understood by measuring transmitted wave inten-
ing evaporated water, which is one of important factor to cool sity signals using PZT ceramics, where the embedded piezoelectric
down the body’s temperature in hot days. In the other hand, these sensor signals are analyzed by both the global dynamic technique
breathable polymer textiles have waterproofed feature. They can and the EMI technique. Incorporation of the digital image correla-
be designed such, the molecules of textile have minimum volume at tion (DIC) can analyze local defect/strain fields that were caused by
room temperature, so the textile prevent any penetration of mois- EMI output and the DIC system in the specimens over the weakness
ture from surrounding to body or evaporation from body to ambi- test. Figure 7 depicts the ultimate process for SHM depending on
ent, However, in a higher temperature (Tg), the molecules extended impedance.
and thus making some small holes for ventilation. The water vapor
permeability can be improved by incorporating multi walled car-
bon nanotube. Furthermore, since the vertical stress of SMPs are
lower than the regular textile, so it gives more flexibility to SMPs
and thus they will get a compatible size with body. This is shown
in figure 6.

Figure 7: SHM of the cracked structure by impedance

analyzer[11].

Figure 6: Schematic composition of both traditional and SMP

in a smart textile, which exhibits SME [9].

Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.
Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review

34

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Citation: Arnab Chatterjee. “Critical Comparison of Smart Materials: Shape Memory Alloys vs Piezoelectric Materials: A Thorough Review". Acta Scientific
Applied Physics 3.3 (2023): 29-35.