Effects of strain gradient and electromagnetic field gradient on potential and field distributions of multiferroic fibrous composites (Q2234181)

The authors investigate the effect of strain gradient, electric field gradient, and magnetic field gradient on the potential and field distributions of multiferroic fibrous composites under generalized anti-plane shear deformation. These considerations may become a necessity when dealing with micro- and nanotechnology, the characteristic sizes in which are small enough, and the interaction with microstructure can no more be neglected. The study is carried out within the linear magneto-electro-elasticity theory, in the absence of body forces, free charges, and free electric current. A variational formulation using a multitude of independent variables allows to derive the equilibrium equations and the boundary conditions for a magneto-electro-elastic multiferroic composite. It is assumed that both the electric and the magnetic fields are derived from potentials. Three internal characteristic length scale parameters, mechanical, electric and magnetic, of the underlying microstructure are introduced in the constitutive equations. The effect of these length scale parameters is studied in detail for various settings. The authors consider two particular settings: anti-plane shear with in-plane electromagnetic fields and a circular inclusion problem in an infinite matrix under uniform external applied fields, both under some simplifying conditions. Numerical calculations are presented for a void in an infinite PZT-4 matrix, and a \(\mathrm{CoFe}_2\mathrm{O}_4\) fiber in a PZT-4 matrix, to provide insights into the role of characteristic lengths on the potential and field distributions in the medium. It is shown that the gradient effects have significant influence on the potential and field distributions of a multiferroic fibrous composite.