Dynamic magnetoelectric response of composite multiferroics cylinders

Abstract

The effect of several mechanical boundary conditions on the dynamic magnetoelectric (ME) effect is analytically investigated for layered cylindrical composites. The study consists of deriving a mechanics-based model for two concentric cylinders made of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) and cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4), separated by a thin elastic layer, which is treated as strain mediator with no effect on the functional behavior of the system. Different thicknesses of the cylindrical composites and the elastic layer are considered in this study. For each case, nine sets of boundary conditions, four traditional and five non-traditional, were applied. Results show the dependence of the ME effect on the boundary conditions as well as on the inclusion of the elastic layer between the two cylinders, where both affect the strain transduction between the active layers; namely the piezomagnetic (CoFe2O4) and piezoelectric (PZT) layers. It was found that the maximum ME effect is attained for conditions in which the outer boundary is subjected to a uniform mechanical pressure. The inclusion of a thin elastic bonding layer was found to increase the ME response, the thickness of which was further investigated to establish limits of applicability of the reported model.