A micromechanics-based analytical model is developed to evaluate the performance of 1-3-2 piezoelectric composite where both matrix and fiber materials are piezoelectrically active. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of variations in the poling characteristics of the fiber phase on the overall thermo-electro-mechanical behavior of a 1-3-2 piezocomposite. The performance of the 1-3-2 composite as a transducer for underwater and biomedical imaging applications is analyzed. The proposed model is capable of predicting the effective properties of the composite subjected to thermo-electro-mechanical loading conditions. The predicted variations in the effective elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric material constants with fiber volume fraction are nonlinear in nature. It is observed that the influence of thermal effects on effective properties of the composite also induces polarization in the composite. The analytical results show that an appropriate selection of the poling characteristics of the individual fiber and matrix phases could lead to the development of a piezocomposite with significant effective properties. © Springer-Verlag 2012.

Arunachalakasi Arockiarajan

Department of Applied Mechanics

Analytical results

BIOMEDICAL IMAGING APPLICATIONS

EFFECTIVE PROPERTY

FIBER MATERIALS

FIBER VOLUME FRACTIONS

INDIVIDUAL FIBERS

MATRIX PHASIS

Parametric study

PIEZOCOMPOSITES

PIEZOELECTRIC COMPOSITE

POLING CHARACTERISTIC

THERMOELECTROMECHANICAL LOADING

Loading

Medical imaging

Piezoelectric actuators

Piezoelectric materials

Piezoelectric transducers

Fibers

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IIT Madras

Acta Mechanica

The effective thermo-electro-elastic properties of Macro-Fiber Composites (MFC) are evaluated by means of an analytical model based on 'equivalent layered approach' using the concepts of 'rule of mixtures' and 'series and parallel capacitance theory'. To account for the complex electric field distribution and the constituents shape and position, a numerical model based on finite element calculations is developed using 'unit-cell approach'. The piezoelectric charge constants of MFCs are experimentally evaluated by applying electrical load in various thermal environment (27. °C to 70. °C). The proposed models are validated with the results available in literature, experimental values and the data from the manufacturer. Also, effect of thermal environment on the effective constants of MFCs for various volume fraction of piezoceramic phase is investigated. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Composite Structures

Experimental and theoretical investigation on the thermo-electro-elastic properties of Macro-Fiber Composites (MFC)

A simplified analytical model is devised based on equivalent layered approach using the concepts of 'rule of mixtures' and 'series and parallel capacitance theory' to find the effect of bonding layer thickness and the thermal environment on the effective properties of Macro-Fiber Composites (MFC). A thermo-electro-mechanical analysis is performed based on finite element calculations using unit-cell method accounting for the geometric properties of constituents and non-uniform electric field distribution across the electrodes. Also, experiments are performed on commercially available MFCs under electrical load in various thermal environments to evaluate the coupling constants. The predictions based on the proposed models are validated with experimental results and data from the manufacturer. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Composites Part B: Engineering

Effect of interphase and thermal environment on the effective properties of Macro-Fiber Composites (MFC)

An analytical model based on equivalent layered approach is developed to evaluate the effective properties of macro-fiber composites (MFC) where all the phases (kapton, acrylic, copper, piezoceramic fiber and epoxy) are considered for homogenization. Also, a finite element analysis (FEA) based on representative volume element (RVE) method is performed in the present work to determine the effective properties as MFCs have interdigitated electrode patterns and variations in fiber orientations. Experiments are performed under actuator mode to obtain the coupling constants. Simulations based on the proposed analytical and numerical approaches are validated with experiments and the data provided by the manufacturer. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the variations of overall material behavior of MFC as a function PZT (fiber phase) volume fraction. The outcome of the present study demonstrates the influence of total packaging effect on effective properties of MFC. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical

Analytical, numerical and experimental predictions of the effective electromechanical properties of macro-fiber composite (MFC)

An analytical model based on an equivalent layered approach using iso-field assumptions is proposed to find the effect of bonding layers on the effective properties of macro-fiber composites (MFCs). To account for the interdigitated electrode pattern and geometric (shape and position) properties, a finite element analysis is carried out using the representative volume element (RVE) method. The simulated results based on the proposed analytical and numerical models are compared and validated with the data available from the manufacturer and a mixing rules model available in the literature. Experiments are performed on MFCs under pure electrical loading to measure a few coupling constants and the results are compared with simulated results. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the variations of the overall material behavior of MFCs with respect to bonding layer thickness. The present study examines the influence of bonding the layer on the effective properties of MFCs. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Smart Materials and Structures

Influence of bonding layer on effective electromechanical properties of macro-fiber composites (MFCs)

An investigation on the temperature-dependent behavior of 1-3 piezocomposites for different fiber volume fractions and bulk piezoceramics is carried out. Experiments are conducted on 1-3 piezocomposites at room and elevated temperatures under a high cyclic electric field to understand the behavior of these materials. Temperature-dependent effective properties of piezocomposites are measured using resonance technique. A simple analytical model based on equivalent layered approach is proposed for the determination of the effective properties of 1-3 piezocomposites at elevated temperature. A uniaxial constitutive model has been developed based on a thermodynamic approach, to predict the nonlinear behavior of 1-3 piezocomposites under thermo-electrical loading conditions. Volume fractions of three distinct uniaxial variants are used as internal variables to describe the microscopic state of the material. A nonlinear hardening parameter based on a Gaussian function is used to describe the grain boundary effects. The predicted effective properties are used in the proposed uniaxial model and the classical dielectric hysteresis (electric displacement vs. electric field) as well as butterfly curves (strain vs. electric field) are simulated and compared with experimental data. It is observed that the variation in fiber volume fraction and temperature has a strong influence on the response of 1-3 piezocomposites. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Wien.

Temperature-dependent ferroelectric switching of 1-3 type piezocomposites: An experimental and theoretical study

An analytical method based on parallel and series models is developed to evaluate the performance of 1-3 piezoelectric composite where both matrix and fiber phases are piezoelectrically active. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of the volume fraction of ceramic on the smart composite and the performance of the 1-3 composite for underwater acoustics and biomedical imaging has been addressed. The present model is capable of predicting the effective properties of the composite subjected to thermo-electro-mechanical loading conditions. Simulated results are compared with experimentally measured data reported in literature (Taunaumang et al., 1994 [1]) and are found to be in reasonable agreement. The outcome of the present study demonstrates the influence of thermal effect on effective properties of the composite induces the polarization in the composite. Along the loading direction, there is a significant reduction in the effective pyroelectric coefficient of the piezocomposites, except near the monolithic ceramic fiber material. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computational Materials Science

An analytical model for predicting thermo-electro-mechanical response of 1-3 piezoelectric composites

A micromechanics-based analytical model is developed to evaluate the performance of 1-3-2 piezoelectric composite where both matrix and fiber materials are piezoelectrically active. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of the ceramic base and the fiber volume fraction on the modified 1-3 composite. The performance of the 1-3-2 composite as a transducer for underwater acoustics and biomedical imaging applications has been analyzed. The proposed model is capable of predicting the effective properties of the composite subjected to thermoelectromechanical loading conditions. Simulated results of 1-3 type piezocomposite compare well with experimentally measured data reported in the literature (Taunaumang et al 1994 J. Appl. Phys. 76 484-9). The present study demonstrates that the low end ceramic base volume fraction of 1-3-2 composite yields comparative performance with 1-3 type composite. It is observed that the influence of thermal effects on the effective properties of the composite also induces the polarization in the composite. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Thermo-electro-mechanical response of 1-3-2 type piezoelectric composites

Active damping of geometrically nonlinear vibrations of laminated composite plates using vertically reinforced 1-3 piezoelectric composites

Journal of the American Ceramic Society

Piezoelectric Properties of the 1-3 Type Porous Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics

Ferroelectrics

Electromechanical Coupling Factors of Novel 0–3–0 Composites Based on PMN–xPT Single Crystals

Thermo-electro-mechanical response of 1-3-2 piezoelectric composites: Effect of fiber orientations

Journal	Acta Mechanica
ISSN	00015970
Open Access	No