Investigation of electromechanical properties of piezoelectric structural fiber composites with micromechanics analysis and finite element modeling

This paper investigates the electromechanical properties of piezoelectric structural fiber (PSF) composites with the combined micromechanics analysis and finite element modeling. The active piezoelectric materials are widely used due to their high stiffness, voltage-dependent actuation capability, and broadband electro-mechanical interactions. However, the fragile nature of piezoceramics limits their sensing and actuating applications. In this study, the active PSF composites were made by deploying the longitudinally poled PSFs into a polymer matrix. The PSF itself consists a silicon carbide (SiC) or carbon core fiber as reinforcement to the fragile piezoceramic shell. To predict the electromechanical properties of PSF composites, the micromechanics analysis was firstly conducted with the dilute approximation model and the Mori-Tanaka approach. The extended Rule of Mixtures was also applied to accurately predict the transverse properties by considering the effects of microstructure including inclusion sizes and geometries. The piezoelectric finite element (FE) modeling was developed with the ABAQUS software to predict the detailed mechanical and electrical field distribution within a representative volume element (RVE) of PSF composites. The simulated energy or deformation under imposed specific boundary conditions was used to calculate each individual property with constitutive laws. The comparison between micromechanical analysis and finite element modeling indicates the combination of the dilute approximation model, the Mori-Tanaka approach and the extended Rule of Mixtures can favorably predict the electromechanical properties of three-phase PSF composites. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.