On the influence of the electric permeability on an interface crack in a piezoelectric bimaterial compound

An interface crack between two semi-infinite piezoelectric spaces under the action of remote mixed mode loading and electric flux is considered. The properties of the materials, loading and crack geometry admit to consider a two-dimensional problem in the plane perpendicular to the crack front. The crack is assumed to be free from mechanical loading and the limited permeable electric condition holds true. Assuming the electric flux is constant along the crack area, using the known presentations of all electromechanical fields via a piecewise holomorphic vector function, the problem is reduced to a vector Hilbert problem and solved in an analytical way. Clear analytical expressions for stresses and electric displacement as well as for stress and electric intensity factors are derived. As a particular case, a crack in a homogeneous piezoelectric material is considered and exact analytical formulae are presented for this case. The numerical analysis of the obtained formulae showed that for small values of the electric flux the model of a completely permeable crack can be used for any real crack permeability’s. The validity of such an approximation decreases with increase in the mechanical loading and especially of the electric flux.