A phenomenological approach to study the nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) response of ME composites

Magnetoelectric (ME) composites have recently attracted many researchers because of their significant applications in devices like sensors, energy harvesters etc. In this work, a unique phenomenological nonlinear constitutive model for ferromagnetic material has been developed and further, this model is extended to study the ME coupling coefficient of ME composites. The proposed model is based on metal plasticity approach for ferromagnetic material and is also thermodynamically consistent. A robust non-iterative scheme has been proposed and the developed model is incorporated into the computational scheme which renders computationally efficient simulations. In order to validate the proposed model, firstly, a press fit assembly of ME composite has been considered. The prestress developed due to the press fit is numerically evaluated using ABAQUS. The simulated results for the press fit configuration are compared with the experimental observations. To illustrate the generality of this model, a layered ME composite configuration has also been studied. Finally, a parametric study has been conducted and the influence of volume fraction of constituents, boundary conditions and the aspect ratio for the press fit ME composite assembly are reported. (paper)