A model for predicting effective properties of piezocomposites with non-piezoelectric inclusions

Most piezocomposites, which have been widely used in engineering, consist o f piezoelectric inclusions and a non-piezoelectric matrix. Due to the limit s of fabrication technology, it is hard to avoid the matrix intermingling w ith other non-piezoelectric inclusions, such as cavities. The non-piezoelec tric inclusions can substantially affect performance of piezocomposites. In this paper we study the electromechanical fields in piezocomposites which are composed of a non-piezoelectric matrix embedded with both piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric inclusions. Closed-form relations are obtained for t he effective electroelastic moduli of a piezocomposite with both piezoelect ric and non-piezoelectric inclusions. The effective properties of a 1-3 typ e piezocomposite with non-piezoelectric spherical inclusions are analyzed c arefully and explicit formulae for the effective electroelastic properties of a 1-3-0 piezocomposite are also obtained. The analysis shows that the ef fect of non-piezoelectric inclusions on the electroelastic properties of pi ezocomposites is significant and should not be neglected. The model propose d in this paper is expected to be useful for predicting and analyzing the o verall electromechanical properties of piezocomposites with a non-piezoelec tric matrix containing both piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric inclusions.