Thermo-electro-mechanical response of 1-3-2 piezoelectric composites: Effect of fiber orientations

A micromechanics-based analytical model is developed to evaluate the performance of 1-3-2 piezoelectric composite where both matrix and fiber materials are piezoelectrically active. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of variations in the poling characteristics of the fiber phase on the overall thermo-electro-mechanical behavior of a 1-3-2 piezocomposite. The performance of the 1-3-2 composite as a transducer for underwater and biomedical imaging applications is analyzed. The proposed model is capable of predicting the effective properties of the composite subjected to thermo-electro-mechanical loading conditions. The predicted variations in the effective elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric material constants with fiber volume fraction are nonlinear in nature. It is observed that the influence of thermal effects on effective properties of the composite also induces polarization in the composite. The analytical results show that an appropriate selection of the poling characteristics of the individual fiber and matrix phases could lead to the development of a piezocomposite with significant effective properties. © Springer-Verlag 2012.