Nonlocal thermal buckling and postbuckling of functionally graded graphene nanoplatelet reinforced piezoelectric micro-plate

This paper analyzes the nonlocal thermal buckling and postbuckling behaviors of a multi-layered graphene nanoplatelet (GPL) reinforced piezoelectric micro-plate. The GPLs are supposed to disperse as a gradient pattern in the composite micro-plate along its thickness. The effective material properties are calculated by the Halpin-Tsai parallel model and mixture rule for the functionally graded GPL reinforced piezoelectric (FG-GRP) micro-plate. Governing equations for the nonlocal thermal buckling and postbuckling behaviors of the FG-GRP micro-plate are obtained by the first-order shear deformation theory, the von Karman nonlinear theory, and the minimum potential energy principle. The differential quadrature (DQ) method and iterative method are introduced to numerically analyze the effects of the external electric voltage, the distribution pattern and characteristic of GPLs, and the nonlocal parameter on the critical buckling behaviors and postbuckling equilibrium path of the FG-GRP micro-plate in thermal environment.