Academic literature on the topic 'Electro-mechanical Coupling'

Ferroelectric materials continue to find increasing use in actuator, sensor and transducer design. Questions regarding lifetime and reliability remain a concern due to the inherent low fracture toughness and complex material behavior. The poling procedure required for use in actuator and sensing devices introduces anisotropy in elastic and dielectric coefficients as well as piezoelectric coupling between the mechanical and electrical fields. This introduces complex fracture behavior which necessitates advanced analytical techniques and fracture characterization. In this dissertation, fracture mechanics of ferroelectric materials is evaluated by employing different analytical techniques and experimental methodology. The theoretical work has focused on linear piezoelectric coupling that accounts for the influence of anisotropy and heterogeneity on fracture. A new orthotropic rescaling technique is presented that explicitly solves the anisotropic linear elastic piezoelectric crack problem in terms of material coefficients. The effects of heterogeneities on electric field induced microfracture are analyzed by implementing a crack at the edge of a heterogeneous piezoelectric inclusion. A positive, flaw-localized driving force is realized when permeable crack face boundary conditions are considered. The experimental portion of the work evaluates fracture behavior in the ferroelectric ceramic, lead zirconate titanate (PZT), and the ferroelectric relaxor single crystal PZN-4.5%PT. Relative humidity and electric boundary conditions are shown to have significant effects on crack kinetics in PZT. Fracture anisotropy in single crystal PZN-4.5%PT is characterized using the Single-Edge V-notch Beam (SEVNB) method and Vickers indentations. Scanning electron micrographs are used to determine the crack profile which leads to a prediction of crack tip toughness and local energy release rate. A weak cleavage plane is identified in the single crystal relaxor which contains a significantly lower toughness in comparison to the ferroelectric ceramic PZT.

Recent advances in manufacturing of multifunctional materials have provided opportunities to develop structures that possess superior mechanical properties with other concurrent capabilities such as sensing, self-healing, electromagnetic and heat functionality. The idea is to fabricate components that can integrate multiple capabilities in order to develop lighter and more efficient structures. In this regard, due to their combined structural and electrical functionalities, electrically conductive carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) matrix composites have been used in a wide variety of applications in most of which they are exposed to unwanted impact-like mechanical loads. Experimental data have suggested that the application of an electromagnetic field at the moment of the impact can significantly reduce the damage in CFRP composites. However, the observations still need to be investigated carefully for practical applications. Furthermore, as the nature of the interactions between the electro-magneto-thermo-mechanical fields is very complicated, no analytical solutions can be found in the literature for the problem. In the present thesis, the effects of coupling between the electromagnetic and mechanical fields in electrically conductive anisotropic composite plates are studied. In particular, carbon fiber polymer matrix (CFRP) composites subjected to an impact-like mechanical load, pulsed electric current, and immersed in the magnetic field of constant magnitude are considered. The analysis is based on simultaneous solving of the system of nonlinear partial differential equations, including equations of motion and Maxwell's equations. Physics-based hypotheses for electro-magneto-mechanical coupling in transversely isotropic composite plates and dimension reduction solution procedures for the nonlinear system of the governing equations have been used to reduce the three-dimensional system to a two-dimensional (2D) form. A numerical solution procedure for the resulting 2D nonlinear mixed system of hyperbolic and parabolic partial differential equations has been developed, which consists of a sequential application of time and spatial integrations and quasilinearization. Extensive computational analysis of the response of the CFRP composite plates subjected to concurrent applications of different electromagnetic and mechanical loads has been conducted. The results of this work verify the results of the previous experimental studies on the subject and yield some suggestions for the characteristics of the electromagnetic load to create an optimum impact response of the composite.

The application of static shape control was investigated in this thesis particularly for a composite plate configuration using piezoelectric actuators. A new electro-mechanically coupled mathematical model was developed for the analysis and is based on a third order displacement field coupled with a layerwise electric potential concept. This formulation, TODL, is then implemented into a finite element program. The mathematical model represents an improvement over existing formulations used to model intelligent structures using piezoelectric materials as actuators and sensors. The reason is TODL does not only account for the electro-mechanical coupling within the adaptive material, it also accounts for the full structural coupling in the entire structure due to the piezoelectric material being attached to the host structure. The other significant improvement of TODL is that it is applicable to structures which are relatively thick whereas existing models are based on thin beam / plate theories. Consequently, transverse shearing effects are automatically accounted for in TODL and unlike first order shear deformation theories, shear correction factors are not required. The second major section of this thesis uses the TODL formulation in static shape control. Shape control is defined here as the determination of shape control parameters, including actuation voltage and actuator orientation configuration, such that the structure that is activated using these parameters will conform as close as possible to the desired shape. Several shape control strategies and consequently algorithms were developed here. Initial investigations in shape control has revealed many interesting issues which have been used in later investigations to improve shape controllability and also led to the development of improved algorithms. For instance, the use of discrete actuator patches has led to greater shape controllability and the use of slopes and curvatures as additional control criteria have resulted in significant reduction in internal stresses. The significance of optimizing actuator orientation and its relation to piezoelectric anisotropy in improving shape controllability has also been presented. Thus the major facets of shape control has been brought together and the algorithms developed here represent a comprehensive strategy to perform static shape control.