Effects of Particle Shape and Microstructure on Effective Nonlinear Response

We consider a binary granular composite medium, in which two materials have high-order nonlinearities. The effect of particle shape on effective nonlinear response (ENR) is investigated by assuming all the particles to be shaped as uniaxial ellipsoid. We discuss two types of arrangements of particles: 1) parallel axes (Case I); 2) random axes (Case II). During the process of numerical calculation, one component material is assumed to be linear, and two kinds of conductors are assumed to be at high conducting contrast. We find that: 1) the shape effect on ENR is possibly strong; 2) the enhanced ENR can even be obtained by choosing particles of appropriate ellipsoidal shapes; 3) the ENR enhancement predicted by Case I is much stronger than that by Case II.