Due to mass constraints, composite materials are possible candidates to replace metal alloys for electromagnetic shielding applications. The design of standard metallic shielding enclosures often relies on finite-element calculations. But in the case of composite materials, the strong dependence on the shielding properties to the microstructure makes the finite-element approach almost impossible. Indeed meshing the microstructure would imply a huge number of elements, incompatible with usual computational resources. We propose in this paper to develop homogenization tools to define the effective electromagnetic properties of composite materials at microwave frequencies. The ratio between the characteristic size of the microstructure and the wavelength is shown to be a key parameter in the homogenization process. The effective properties can then be used as an input for electromagnetic compatibility standard tools, designed for homogeneous media.Index Terms-Effective medium, heterogeneous materials, homogenization, inclusion problem, Maxwell-Garnett model, shielding effectiveness.

Giant magnetostrictive materials (GMM) can be integrated in actuator or sensor applications. The design of these systems is optimized based on a good knowledge of the material properties and conditions of use. Terfenol-D exhibits the greatest room temperature strain among commercially available GMM, however, its magneto-elastic behavior is very sensitive to prestress level. In this work, the design of an experimental setup dedicated to the characterization of GMM magneto-mechanical behavior under constant stress is described. A major difficulty is to master the mechanical boundary conditions while the sample is subjected to dynamic magnetic loading. The dynamic stress experienced by the sample is connected to the magnitude of the magnetostriction strain, the stiffness of the sample and the stiffness of the characterization setup. Results show that an appropriate setup is able to reduce the dynamic stress variations induced by magnetic excitation variations below 0.1 MPa, while this dynamic stress can reach up to 20 times the magnitude of the applied stress when the control system is not used. With the boundary conditions being controlled, magnetic and magnetostrictive behavior of Terfenol-D are characterized under various uniaxial compressive stress levels, from the stress-free conditions to 90 MPa. By comparing the results obtained under controlled and non-controlled stress conditions, it is shown that uncontrolled boundary conditions can be responsible for errors of several percent on the magnetic induction measurement. The measurement of strain is even more sensitive to the boundary conditions, with errors up to 40% and 30% on the longitudinal and transverse strains, respectively. This work highlights the utmost importance to control the boundary conditions in order to characterize the magneto-mechanical behavior of GMM.