Electroactive polymers are increasingly used in niche actuators and sensor applications demanding large strains as compared to other piezoelectric materials. New applications are emerging in medical devices, haptic actuators, cellular phone cameras, smart fabrics for sensors, digital mecha-tronics and high strain sensors.
The global piezoelectric crystal industry has gone through several boom-and-bust cycles. However, in the last five years, several applications have emerged for piezoelectric materials because of the new revolution in wireless and wire line communications.
The global market for the existing eleven generic types of piezoelectric devices now equals US $10.6 billion and is expected to reach $19.5 billion by 2012.
