A hierarchy of inclusions and electromechanical properties of 0-3 ceramic/polymer composites

This paper is devoted to the study of effective electromechanical properties of piezoactive 0-3 composites based on perovskite-type ferroelectric ceramics. A new model of the 0-3 ceramic/polymer composite is proposed for prediction of the effective properties. This model and the related averaging procedure are concerned with taking into account a hierarchy of inclusions in the polymer matrix and an electromechanical interaction among components. Numerical results are presented for the Pb(Zr, Ti)O3- and (Pb, Ca)TiO3-based composites to show the effect of different inclusions on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties. It is also shown that analytical predictions of the effective properties of the studied 0-3 composites are in good agreement with existing experimental data in wide concentration ranges