Electroelastic behavior of piezoelectric composites with coated reinforcements: Micromechanical approach and applications

In this work, a micromechanical model for the estimate of the electroelastic behavior of the piezoelectric composites with coated reinforcements is proposed. The piezoelectric coating is considered as a thin layer with active electroelastic properties different from those of the inclusion and the matrix. The micromechanical approach based on the Green’s functions technique and on the interfacial operators is designed for solving the electroelasticity inhomogeneous coated inclusion problem. The effective properties of a piezoelectric composite containing thinly coated inclusions are obtained through the Mori–Tanaka’s model. Numerical investigations into electroelastic moduli responsible for the electromechanical coupling are presented as functions of the volume fraction and characteristics of the coated inclusions. Comparisons with existing analytical and numerical results are presented for cylindrical and elliptic coated inclusions.     

A unified model for piezocomposites with non-piezoelectric matrix and piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusions

In this paper, the closed-form solutions of the electroelastic Eshelbys tensors of a piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusion in an infinite non-piezoelectric matrix are obtained via the Greens function technique. Based on the generalized Budianskys energy-equivalence framework and the closed-form solutions of the electroelastic Eshelbys tensors, a unified model for multiphase piezocomposites with the non-piezoelectric matrix and piezoelectric inclusions is set up. The closed-form solutions of the effective electroelastic moduli of piezocomposites are also obtained. The unified model has a rigorous but simple form, which can describe the multiphase piezocomposites with different connectivities, such as 0–3, 1–3, 2–2, 2–3, 3–3 connectivities, etc. It can also describe the effects of non-interaction and interaction among the inclusions. As examples, the closed-form solutions of the effective electroelastic moduli are given by means of the dilute solution for the 0–3 piezocomposite with transversely isotropic piezoelectric spherical inclusions and by means of the dilute solution and the Mori–Tanakas method for the 1–3 piezocomposite with two kinds of transversely isotropic piezoelectric cylindrical inclusions. The predicted results are compared with experimental data, which shows that the theoretical curves calculated by means of the Mori–Tanakas method agree quite well with the experimental values, but the theoretical curves obtained by the dilute solution agree well with the experimental values only when the volume fraction of the ceramic inclusion is less than 0.3. The results in this paper can be used to analyze and design the multiphase piezocomposites.     

Micromechanics predictions of the effective moduli of magnetoelectroelastic composite materials

In this paper, the self-consistent, generalized Mori–Tanaka and dilute micromechanics theories are extended to study the coupled magnetoelectroelastic composite materials. The heterogeneous inclusion problem of magnetoelectroelastic behavior is formulated in terms of five interaction tensors related to the Green's functions for an infinite three-dimensional transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic solid. These tensors are then used to predict the effective moduli of the magnetoelectroelastic solid based on the self-consistent, Mori–Tanaka and the dilute approaches. Numerical results are obtained for various types of inclusions. These results are employed to study the effects of the inclusion properties, such as moduli, volume fractions, shapes, etc., on the effective moduli of magnetoelectroelastic composites, in particular, the related magnetic properties. The results obtained using the self-consistent model, the generalized Mori–Tanaka's model and the dilute approach are compared with the existing experimental and theoretical results.     

Magneto-electro-elastic coated inclusion problem and its application to magnetic-piezoelectric composite materials

In this work, a micromechanical model for the estimate of the magneto-electro-elastic behavior of the magnetic-piezoelectric composites with coated reinforcements is proposed. The coating is considered as a thin layer with properties different from those of the inclusion and the matrix. The micromechanical approach based on the Green’s functions techniques and on the interfacial operators is designed for solving the magneto-electro-elastic inhomogeneous coated inclusion problem. The effective magneto-electro-elastic properties of the composite containing thinly coated inclusions are obtained through the Mori–Tanaka’s model. Numerical investigations into magneto-electro-elastic moduli responsible for the magneto-electric coupling are presented as functions of the volume fraction and characteristics of the coated inclusions. Comparisons with existing models are presented for various shape and orientation of the coated inclusions.     

The effective properties of piezocomposites, part II: The effective electroelastic moduli

Since piezoelectric ceramic/polymer composites have been widely used as smart materials and smart structures, it is more and more important to obtain the closed-from solutions of the effective properties of piezocomposites with piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusions. Based on the closed-from solutions of the electroelastic Eshelby's tensors obtained in the part I of this paper and the generalized Budiansky's energy-equivalence framework, the closed-form general relations of effective electroelastic moduli of the piezocomposites with piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusions are given. The relations can be applicable for several micromechanics models, such as the dilute solution and the Mori-Tanaka's method. The difference among the various models is shown to be the way in which the average strain and the average electric field of the inclusion phase are evaluated. Comparison between predicted and experimental results shows that the theoretical values in this paper agree quite well with the experimental results. These expression can be readily utilized in analysis and design of piezocomposites. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

A generalized self-consistent method accounting for fiber section shape

A three-phase confocal elliptical cylinder model is proposed for fiber-reinforced composites, in terms of which a generalized self-consistent method is developed for fiber-reinforced composites accounting for variations in fiber section shapes and randomness in fiber section orientation. The reasonableness of the fiber distribution function in the present model is shown. The dilute, self-consistent, differential and Mori–Tanaka methods are also extended to consider randomness in fiber section orientation in a statistical sense. A full comparison is made between various micromechanics methods and with the Hashin and Shtrikman’s bounds. The present method provides convergent and reasonable results for a full range of variations in fiber section shapes (from circular fibers to ribbons), for a complete spectrum of the fiber volume fraction (from 0 to 1, and the latter limit shows the correct asymptotic behavior in the fully packed case) and for extreme types of the inclusion phases (from voids to rigid inclusions). A very different dependence of the five effective moduli on fiber section shapes is theoretically predicted, and it provides a reasonable explanation on the poor correlation between previous theory and experiment in the case of longitudinal shear modulus.     

Solutions of inhomogeneity problems with graded shells and application to core-shell nanoparticles and composites

This paper first presents the Eshelby tensors and stress concentration tensors for a spherical inhomogeneity with a graded shell embedded in an alien infinite matrix. The solution is then specialized to inhomogeneous inclusions in finite spherical domains with fixed displacement or traction-free boundary conditions. The Eshelby tensors in the infinite and finite domains and the stress concentration tensors are especially useful for solving many problems in mechanics and materials science. This is demonstrated on two examples. In the first example, the strain distributions in core-shell nanoparticles with eigenstrains induced by lattice mismatches are calculated using the Eshelby tensors in the finite domains. In the second example, the Eshelby and stress concentration tensors in the three-phase configuration are used to formulate the generalized self-consistent prediction of the effective moduli of composites containing spherical particles within the framework of the equivalent inclusion method. The advantage of this micromechanical scheme is that, whilst its predictions are almost identical to the classical generalized self-consistent method and the third-order approximation, the expressions for the effective moduli have simple closed forms.     

Electromechanical response of (3–0, 3–1) particulate,fibrous, and porous piezoelectric composites with anisotropic constituents: A model based on the homogenization method

An analytical framework based on the homogenization method has been developed to predict the effective electromechanical properties of periodic, particulate and porous, piezoelectric composites with anisotropic constituents. Expressions are provided for the effective moduli tensors of n-phase composites based on the respective strain and electric field concentration tensors. By taking into account the shape and distribution of the inclusion and by invoking a simple numerical procedure, solutions for the electromechanical properties of a general anisotropic inclusion in an anisotropic matrix are obtained. While analytical forms are provided for predicting the electroelastic moduli of composites with spherical and cylindrical inclusions, numerical evaluation of integrals over the composite microstructure is required in order to obtain the corresponding expressions for a general ellipsoidal particle in a piezoelectric matrix. The electroelastic moduli of piezoelectric composites predicted by the analytical model developed in the present study demonstrate excellent agreement with results obtained from three-dimensional finite-element models for several piezoelectric systems that exhibit varying degrees of elastic anisotropy.     

Effective property of piezoelectric composites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with interfacial debonding

Based on both the spring layer interface model and the Gurtin-Murdoch surface/interface model, the anti-plane shear problem is studied for piezoelectric composites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with imperfect interfaces. By using the complex function method and the technique of conformal mapping, the exact solutions of the electroelastic fields in fiber, coating, and matrix of piezoelectric nanocomposites are derived under far-field anti-plane mechanical and in-plane electrical loads. Furthermore, the generalized self-consistent method is used to accurately predict the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with imperfect interfaces. Numerical examples are illustrated to show the effects of the material constants of the imperfect interface layers, the aspect ratio of the fiber section, and the fiber volume fraction on the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites. The results indicate that the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites can be significantly reduced by the interfacial debonding, but it can be improved by the surface/interface stresses at the small scale, which provides important theoretical reference for the design and optimization of piezoelectric nanodevices and nanostructures.     

Effective moduli of piezoelectric material with microcavities

The effective electroelastic moduli of microcavity-weakened piezoelectric plates are investigated by the dilute, self-consistent, Mori-Tanaka and differential micromechanics theories. The results of perturbed heat intensity, strain and electric field (SEF) due to the presence of voids are obtained for two-dimensional (2-D) piezoelectric plates with microcavities of various shapes, and then the above four micromechanics models can be established with the results. These models can be applicable to a wide range of microcavities such as ellipse, circle, crack, triangle, square and pentagon. Some numerical results are presented to illustrate the applicability of these models.     

A Model for Predicting Effective Properties of Piezocomposites with Non-piezoelectric Inclusions

Most piezocomposites, which have been widely used in engineering, consist of piezoelectric inclusions and a non-piezoelectric matrix. Due to the limits of fabrication technology, it is hard to avoid the matrix intermingling with other non-piezoelectric inclusions, such as cavities. The non-piezoelectric inclusions can substantially affect performance of piezocomposites. In this paper we study the electromechanical fields in piezocomposites which are composed of a non-piezoelectric matrix embedded with both piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric inclusions. Closed-form relations are obtained for the effective electroelastic moduli of a piezocomposite with both piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric inclusions. The effective properties of a 1-3 type piezocomposite with non-piezoelectric spherical inclusions are analyzed carefully and explicit formulae for the effective electroelastic properties of a 1-3-0 piezocomposite are also obtained. The analysis shows that the effect of non-piezoelectric inclusions on the electroelastic properties of piezocomposites is significant and should not be neglected. The model proposed in this paper is expected to be useful for predicting and analyzing the overall electromechanical properties of piezocomposites with a non-piezoelectric matrix containing both piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric inclusions.     

Experimental and theoretical study on time dependence of the quasi-piezoelectric d33 coefficients of cellular piezoelectret film

The voided charged polymer film, also called piezoelectret, has a very large quasi-piezoelectric coefficient in the thickness direction, and has emerged as a new kind of electromechanical transducer materials. Piezoelectret film is usually prepared from polymer by means of biaxial stretching and electric charging process. Due to the inherent viscosity of polymer, the quasi-piezoelectric d₃₃ coefficient of cellular piezoelectret film usually depends on the pressure and time of the measurement. In this article, experiments were carried out on the time spectra of quasi-piezoelectric d₃₃ coefficient in the thickness direction for cellular linear Polypropylene piezoelectret film. To study the effect of void microstructures on the time-dependence of quasi-piezoelectric d₃₃ coefficient, samples of three different thicknesses were tested under two different pressures. The micromechanical theory for viscoelastic composite was extended to predict the electromechanical properties of voided charged polymer film. The voids with surplus charges, which can be piezoelectriclike under deformation, are considered as ellipsoidal heterogeneous piezoelectric inclusions, while the viscous polymer is taken as the matrix. In Laplace transformed space, the generalized Eshelby tensor is formulated for the isotropic nonpolar matrix as well as for the anisotropic matrix. The Mori–Tanaka average scheme is used to find the overall electromechanical properties. Time dependence of the effective properties in real space can be studied by Laplacian inversion. Sensitivity analysis to various parameters is investigated for time dependence of the effective properties, including effective elastic moduli and the quasi-piezoelectric coefficients. Theoretical simulation was presented and comparison with experimental results was conducted. Both qualitative analysis and quantitative comparison with experiments show that this theoretical formulation can predict the time dependence of the effective properties of voided charged piezoelectret film.     

双周期圆柱形压电夹杂反平面问题的精确解及其应用

研究无限压电介质中双周期圆柱形压电夹杂的反平面问题.借鉴Eshelby等效夹杂原理,通过引入双周期非均匀本征应变和本征电场,构造了一个与原问题等价的均匀介质双周期本征应变和本征电场问题.利用双准周期Riemann边值问题理论,获得了夹杂内外严格的电弹性解.作为压电纤维复合材料的一个重要模型,预测了压电纤维复合材料的有效电弹性模量.     

Propagation of axial shear magneto–electro-elastic waves in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic composites with randomly distributed cylindrical inhomogeneities

The integral equations of the scattering problem for piezoelectric–piezomagnetic composites with an inhomogeneity are derived. In the long-wave limit, the solutions of these integral equations for the composites containing a single inhomogeneous fiber are solved in close forms. The total scattering cross-section for the one-fiber composites is also obtained. By the so-called effective field method, the multi-fiber scattering problem is simplified to the one-fiber scattering problem, and the analytical expressions of magneto–electro-elastic fields for the multi-fiber composites are obtained in the long-wave limit. These solved magneto–electro-elastic fields are then used to solve the expressions of the static effective moduli, effective wave velocity and attenuation factor of piezoelectric–piezomagnetic composites with randomly distributed cylindrical inhomogeneities. Through numerical examples, it concludes that, if the random set of fiber cross-sections is homogeneous and isotropic, the effective field method is coincident with the Mori–Tanaka mean field method when the static effective moduli of piezoelectric–piezomagnetic composites are looked for. Moreover, the rules of the effective wave velocity versus the volume fraction of fibers are investigated for specific materials.     

A micromechanical iterative approach for the behavior of polydispersed composites

In this paper, an iterative homogenization method is proposed in order to predict the behavior of polydispersed materials. Various families of heterogeneities according to their geometrical or mechanical properties are progressively introduced into a volume of matrix. At each step, the behavior of intermediate medium is obtained by any analytical homogenization method and is used as matrix of the following step. All homogenization methods, like dilute strain or stress approximations, Hashin’s bounds, three phases method, Mori–Tanaka’s approach or for example the N-layered inclusions method lead to the same effective behavior for the polydispersed material after convergence of the iterative process. Moreover, this convergence is obtained even for significant fractions of heterogeneities and for highly contrasted or polydispersed materials. This method is applied to various composites and validated by comparison with other modellings and experimental results.     

Effective electroelastic constants for three-phase confocal elliptical cylinder model in piezoelectric quasicrystal composites

A three-phase confocal elliptical cylinder model is proposed to analyze micromechanics of one-dimensional hexagonal piezoelectric quasicrystal (PQC) composites. Exact solutions of the phonon, phason, and electric fields are obtained by using the conformal mapping combined with the Laurent expansion technique when the model is subject to far-field anti-plane mechanical and in-plane electric loadings. The effective electroelastic constants of several different composites made up of PQC, quasicrystal (QC), and piezoelectric (PE) materials are predicted by the generalized self-consistent method. Numerical examples are conducted to show the effects of the volume fraction and the cross-sectional shape of inclusion (or fiber) on the effective electroelastic constants of these composites. Compared with other micromechanical methods, the generalized selfconsistent and Mori-Tanaka methods can predict the effective electroelastic constants of the composites consistently.     

Micromechanical modelling of dry and saturated cement paste: Porosity assessment using ultrasonic waves

This article assesses the relationship between porosity and ultrasonic parameters of cement paste. It includes theoretical assessment of ultrasonic wave velocities of cement paste materials. Theoretical micromechanical models describing cement paste as a two-phase composite were detailed. Mechanical (bulk and shear moduli) and ultrasonic (longitudinal and transverse velocities) properties were evaluated. They were then, compared to the experimental ultrasonic properties measured on dry and fully water saturated samples with varying porosity First, the obtained micromechanical results showed that the correlation between acoustic velocity and porosity yielded the expected values: longitudinal and transverse velocities decrease with porosity. Secondly, the dilute inclusion model was able to represent the acoustic parameter of the cement paste only at low porosity, up to 20%. The self-consistent model under-estimated the measured ultrasonic properties for almost all porosity ranges. The Mori–Tanaka and the Kuster–Toksöz models succeeded in describing the acoustic parameters in dry and saturated states when assuming spherical shaped pores.     

Solution of the Eshelby problem in gradient elasticity for multilayer spherical inclusions

We consider gradient models of elasticity which permit taking into account the characteristic scale parameters of the material. We prove the Papkovich–Neuber theorems, which determine the general form of the gradient solution and the structure of scale effects. We derive the Eshelby integral formula for the gradient moduli of elasticity, which plays the role of the closing equation in the self-consistent three-phase method. In the gradient theory of deformations, we consider the fundamental Eshelby–Christensen problem of determining the effective elastic properties of dispersed composites with spherical inclusions; the exact solution of this problem for classical models was obtained in 1976.     

Eshelby tensors for a spherical inclusion in microstretch elastic fields

In the present work, microelastic and macroelastic fields are presented for the case of spherical inclusions embedded in an infinite microstretch material using the concept of Green’s functions. The Eshelby tensors are obtained for a spherical inclusion and it is shown that their forms for microelongated, micropolar and the classical cases are the proper limiting cases of the Eshelby tensors of microstretch materials.     

Dynamic bulk and shear moduli due to grain-scale local fluid flow in fluid-saturated cracked poroelastic rocks: Theoretical model

Grain-scale local fluid flow is an important loss mechanism for attenuating waves in cracked fluid-saturated poroelastic rocks. In this study, a dynamic elastic modulus model is developed to quantify local flow effect on wave attenuation and velocity dispersion in porous isotropic rocks. The Eshelby transform technique, inclusion-based effective medium model (the Mori–Tanaka scheme), fluid dynamics and mass conservation principle are combined to analyze pore-fluid pressure relaxation and its influences on overall elastic properties. The derivation gives fully analytic, frequency-dependent effective bulk and shear moduli of a fluid-saturated porous rock. It is shown that the derived bulk and shear moduli rigorously satisfy the Biot-Gassmann relationship of poroelasticity in the low-frequency limit, while they are consistent with isolated-pore effective medium theory in the high-frequency limit. In particular, a simplified model is proposed to quantify the squirt-flow dispersion for frequencies lower than stiff-pore relaxation frequency. The main advantage of the proposed model over previous models is its ability to predict the dispersion due to squirt flow between pores and cracks with distributed aspect ratio instead of flow in a simply conceptual double-porosity structure. Independent input parameters include pore aspect ratio distribution, fluid bulk modulus and viscosity, and bulk and shear moduli of the solid grain. Physical assumptions made in this model include (1) pores are inter-connected and (2) crack thickness is smaller than the viscous skin depth. This study is restricted to linear elastic, well-consolidated granular rocks.