Interface edge crack in a multiferroic semicylinder

The purpose of the present work is to study the interface edge cracking problem in a semicircular cylindrical multiferroic composite theoretically by the methods of infinite series and singular integral equation. Numerical results of the stress intensity factor (SIF) are obtained and the computational accuracy is demonstrated. Discussion on the numerical results indicates that: (a) in order to reduce the SIF the inner piezoelectric layer should be softer and the outer piezomagnetic layer be stiffer; (b) the piezoelectric stiffening affect the SIF notably, but the piezomagnetic stiffening can only influence it very little.