Theoretical study on nonlinear magnetoelectric effect and harmonic distortion behavior in laminated composite

A theoretical model is established for nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) effect and harmonic distortion behavior in laminated composite, in which the complex nonlinear mechanical-thermo-magnetic characteristics of magnetostrictive phase are taken into consideration. Both the low-frequency and the resonant ME effects are derived by the elastic mechanics method. In this model, the output ME voltage is divided into three parts: a dc term, a linear ac term and a nonlinear ac term. Considering the temperature effect, this model is adopted to predict the dependences of ac voltages on bias magnetic field, frequency of ac magnetic field, the volume fraction of piezoelectric phase and interfacial parameter. Then, the competition relationship between linear and nonlinear ac voltages is discussed. To clearly describe the nonlinear characteristics of the proposed sample, a distortion factor theta is used for characterizing the harmonic distortion behaviors. The dependences of theta on the frequency of ac magnetic field and temperature under different ac magnetic fields are also studied. Finally, the predictions of harmonic distortion behaviors with changing bias magnetic field are obtained. The calculated linear ME coefficient shows a good agreement with the previous experimental data. It showed that: linear ac voltage and linear piezomagnetic coefficient present the same trend as the bias magnetic field increases, and nonlinear ac voltage shows the same trend as the absolute value of nonlinear piezomagnetic coefficient with increasing bias magnetic field; with temperature increasing, the output ME voltages decrease; operating temperature has a minimal effect on the required magnetic field corresponding to the optimal value of the output ME voltages, while it cannot alter the optimal value of piezoelectric phase's volume fraction; the nonlinear ac voltage presents more resonant frequencies than the linear one in the same range. Also, a definite multiple relationship is observed between the corresponding resonant frequencies of linear and nonlinear voltages; a larger theta leads to a more serious harmonic distortion, which is influenced by the frequency of ac magnetic field and temperature; bias magnetic field can be applied to adjust the harmonic distortion behaviors. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.