Electromechanical response of multilayered piezoelectric BaTiO₃/PZT-7A composites with wavy architecture

Abstract

Electromechanical laminated composites with piezoelectric phases are increasingly being explored as multifunctional materials providing energy conversion between electric and mechanical energies. The current work explores thus-far undocumented combined microstructural effects of amplitude-to-wavelength ratio, volume fraction, poling direction of piezoelectric phases on both the homogenized properties and localized stress/electric field distributions in multilayered configurations under fully coupled electro-mechanical loading. In particular, the Multiphysics Finite-Volume Direct Averaging Micromechanics (FVDAM) and its counterpart, an in-house micromechanical multiphysics finite-element model, are utilized to investigate the homogenized and localized responses of wavy multilayered piezoelectric BaTiO3/PZT-7A architectures. These two methods generate highly agreeable results. Moreover, we critically examine the convergence of the finite-volume and finite element-based approaches via the Average Stress Theorem and Average Electric Displacement Theorem. The comparison shows the finite volume-based approach possesses a better numerical convergence. This study illustrates the FVDAM’s ability toward the analysis and design of engineered multilayered piezoelectric materials with wavy architecture.

Homogenization of size-dependent multiphysics behavior of nanostructured piezoelectric composites with energetic surfaces

“…In this section, numerical results are generated extensively for the first time to demonstrate the effect of surface piezoelectricity on the size-dependent response of piezoelectric nanoporous materials. In the following simulations, the PZT-7A piezoelectric bulk material, as shown in Table 1, has been considered, whose properties were found in (Chen et al, 2018a;Tu and Chen, 2021). The surface parameters are typically identified using atomistic simulations of atomic lattices of finite thickness by progressively decreasing the number of through-thickness atomic planes and extrapolating in the limit to zero (Dai et al, 2011;Miller and Shenoy, 2000;Shenoy, 2005).…”

Recursive multiscale homogenization of multiphysics behavior of fuzzy fiber composites reinforced by hollow carbon nanotubes

“…The fuzzy fiber composites studied herein consist of the active piezo ceramic fibers (Lead Zirconate Titanate) with grown CNTs which are embedded in a non-active epoxy matrix. The multiphysics finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics homogenization (MFVDAM) theory, detailed in Chen et al (2018a), Tu and Chen (2021), is adopted and further extended to account for the cylindrically orthotropic material properties in the Cartesian coordinates. To validate the accuracy of the proposed MFVDAM, an in-house finite-element micromechanics code is also proposed considering the piezoelectric effect and cylindrically orthotopic constituent phases (Chen and Wang, 2020).…”

Prototype Design of Cement/Emulsified Asphalt Based Piezoelectric Composites and its Potential Application in Vehicle Speed Sensing

“…Zhang et al ( 13 ) established the model of 2-2 cement-based piezoelectric sensors, and analyzed the influence of different material parameters on the electrical properties. Tu and Chen ( 14 ) explored the joint microstructure effect of the amplitude-to-wavelength ratio, volume fraction, and polarization direction of piezoelectric phases in electromechanical laminated composites, and studied the homogenization and localization response of BaTiO3/PZT-7A structure.…”