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An analytical solution is developed in this research for electro-mechanical flexural response of smart laminated piezoelectric composite rectangular plates encompassing flexible-spring boundary conditions at two opposite edges. Flexible-spring boundary structure is introduced to the system by inclusion of rotational springs of adjustable stiffness which can vary depending on changes in the rotational fixity factor of the springs. To add to the case study complexity, the two other edges are kept free. Three advantages of employing the proposed analytical method include: (1) the electro-mechanical flexural coupling between the piezoelectric actuators and the plate's rotational springs of adjustable stiffness is addressed; (2) there is no need for trial deformation and characteristic functiontherefore, it has higher accuracy than conventional semi-inverse methods; (3) there is no restriction imposed to the position, type, and number of applied loads. The Linear Theory of Piezoelectricity and Classical Plate Theory are adopted to derive the exact elasticity equation. The higher-order Fourier integral and higher-order unit step function differential equations are combined to derive the analytical equations. The analytical results are validated against those obtained from Abaqus Finite Element (FE) package. The results comparison showed good agreement. The proposed smart plates can potentially be applied to real-life structural systems such as smart floors and bridges and the proposed analytical solution can be used to analyze the flexural deformation response.

This paper presents the results of experimental investigation on microstructure (size and morphology of eutectic Si), impact toughness and sliding wear properties of A356 Al-Si alloy and composites containing 10, 20 and 25 wt% of SiCp reinforcement produced by semisolid stirring technique. The results revealed that an increase in SiCp content leads to a reduction in the size of eutectic Si and also changes its morphology from plate-like to equiaxed. Furthermore, addition of 10 and 20 wt% silicon carbide reinforcement decreased the impact toughness by 6 and 18%, respectively. A356/25wt%SiCp composite registered the lowest impact toughness with reduction of 33% due to debonding and agglomeration of SiCp in the matrix. The sliding wear results showed that the wear resistance of the composites was significantly higher than that of the matrix alloy due to the increase in hardness as well as reduction in the size and also morphology transformation of eutectic silicon with increase in SiCp content. However, the existence of particle-porosity clustering with increasing the SiCp content to 25 wt% played a significant role in deteriorating the wear behavior of the composite.

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