Magnetic flux concentration effect of Metglas as a function of its sheet aspect ratio was investigated for Metglas/polyvinylidene fluoride laminates. Taking advantage of this effect, the magnetoelectric voltage coefficient of 21.46 V/cm∙Oe for a laminate with 1 mm wide and 30 mm long Metglas sheet (25 μm thick) is achieved, which is much higher than those reported earlier in similar laminates without making use of the flux concentration effect. The results demonstrate an effective means to significantly enhance the sensitivity of magnetostrictive/piezoelectric composite laminates as weak magnetic field sensors.

The electrocaloric effect (ECE) was directly measured in a relaxor ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)) terpolymer. It was observed that the temperature dependence of ECE of the terpolymer films depends critically on the film preparation conditions. While the uniaxially stretched terpolymer films show pronounced temperature dependence of ECE, the non-stretched films exhibit nearly temperature independent ECE from 5 °C to 45 °C. Such a difference is likely caused by the changes in possible polar states and polar-correlation range by film stretching. Besides, large ECE (T > 15 °C) can be induced in both films at 30 °C and 150 MV/m.

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