Theory of uniformity applied to elastic dielectric materials and piezoelectricity (Q2236313)

Relying on the Toupin's work on non-linear elastic dielectric materials, and on Noll's theory of material uniformity, the authors propose a generalized form of the equations of piezoelectricity in the linear regime, including an anelastic strain and an anelastic polarization, both arising from the intrinsic inhomogeneity of the body. The latter additionally depends on the initial polarization. The proposed equations are derived from initial nonlinear equations for dielectric, non-magnetizable materials expressed in material form, through a linear perturbation technique about a given configuration. They are valid below ferroelectric threshold. A detailed presentation of the linearization process of the second Piola-Kirchhoff stress and of the material electric field is carried out. Standard forms of the piezoelectricity equations are recovered as particular cases. The proposed model could be used for the study of predictive control of piezoelectric actuators for ultra-accurate positioning. The authors plan to extend this study in the future to the fully non-linear theory, in order to include the material behavior above the ferroelectric threshold.