Effective electroelastic moduli of 3-3(0-3) piezocomposites

In a high volume fraction particle-loaded piezocomposite, some ferroelectric particles appear to be in contact, as in a 3-3 connectivity material; others are isolated in the polymer matrix, as in a pure 0-3 connectivity material. Such a material can be considered as a composite of composites characterized by a 3-3(0-3) connectivity. This paper follows two others that have described a matrix method to calculate all of the effective parameters of pure 0-3 and 3-3 connectivity piezocomposites. These previous models are used to obtain the effective properties of a 3-3(0-3) composite. A proportion of 0-3 connectivity in the composite is introduced, and the effective properties are studied as a function of this proportion. Experimental results compared with these predictions show that the model allows an evaluation of the proportion of 0-3 connectivity through the analysis of the electromechanical performance of the composite samples.