Fully coupled thermo-magneto-electro-elastic properties of unidirectional smart composites with a piezoelectric interphase

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of PZT-5A piezoelectric interphase on the effective thermo-magneto-electro-elastic properties of CoFe2O4 piezomagnetic matrix composites reinforced with carbon fibers is investigated. In this type of three-phase smart composite, the unidirectional fiber is coated with the piezoelectric shell. To this end, the fully coupled thermo-magneto-electro-elastic constitutive relations are developed for a unit cell-based micromechanical model in conjunction with a proper representative volume element. The influences of piezoelectric interphase thickness on the effective properties of the unidirectional smart composite are extensively investigated at different carbon fiber volume fractions up to 70%. The results demonstrate that piezoelectric interphase can greatly affect the overall thermo-magneto-electro-elastic properties of the smart composites. For two-phase smart composites, the present predictions are found to be in close proximity with the Mori–Tanaka results, which validates the present model.