Lv. Gibiansky et S. Torquato, Matrix laminate composites: Realizable approximations for the effective moduli of piezoelectric dispersions, J MATER RES, 14(1), 1999, pp. 49-63
This paper is concerned with the effective piezoelectric moduli of a specia
l class of dispersions called matrix laminates composites that are known to
possess extremal elastic and dielectric moduli. It is assumed that the mat
rix material is an isotropic dielectric, and the inclusions and composites
are transversely isotropic piezoelectrics that share the same axis of symme
try. The exact expressions for the effective coefficients of such structure
s are obtained. They can be used to approximate the effective properties of
any transversely isotropic dispersion. The advantages of our approximation
s are that they are (i) realizable, i.e., correspond to specific microstruc
tures; (ii) analytical and easy to compute even in nondegenerate cases; (ii
i) valid for the entire range of phase volume fractions; and (iv) character
ized by two free parameters that allow one to "tune" the approximation and
describe a variety of microstructures. The new approximations are compared
with known ones.