The effective properties of piezoactive matrix composite materials

Matrix composite materials consisting of a uniform component (the matrix), in which a large number of particles of filler (inclusions) are uniformly distributed, are considered. It is assumed that the components of these materials are ideally elastic and possess piezoelectric properties. One version of the self-consistent method (the effective-field method) is used to determine the effective electric and elastic characteristics of these materials, taking related electroelastic effects into account. As the first stage of the method, the problem of coupled electroelasticity for a homogeneous medium containing an isolated inhomogeneity is solved. The solution of this problem is found in analytic form for an ellipsoidal inclusion and a constant external field. The solution obtained is then used in a self-consistent scheme to construct an effective electroelastic operator of the composite, containing a random set of ellipsoidal inclusions. Explicit expressions are obtained for the electroelastic characteristics of composites, reinforced with spherical inclusions and continuous cylindrical fibres. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.