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

In a high volume fraction particle-loaded piezocomposite, some ferroelectri c particles appear to be in contact, as in a 3-3 connectivity material; oth ers are isolated in the polymer matrix, as in a pure 0-3 connectivity mater ial. Such a material can be considered as a composite of composites charact erized 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 p ure 0-3 and 3-3 connectivity piezocomposites. These previous models are use d 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 prope rties are studied as a function of this proportion. Experimental results co mpared with these predictions show that the model allows an evaluation of t he proportion of 0-3 connectivity through the analysis of the electromechan ical performance of the composite samples.