Fracture behavior of an interface crack in a magnetoelectric sandwich structure under electric field: Effects of the poling directions

Abstract

Magnetoelectric (ME) sandwich structure is a common form in device applications. Poling directions of component materials are essential for the improvement of ME device properties. In this paper, the effects of the electric and magnetic poling directions on the interface fracture of a ME sandwich structure are investigated by integral transform and singular integral equation techniques. The expressions of the normalized stress intensity factors (NSIFs) are derived, and some numerical examples are presented. It is found that the poling direction of active layer can greatly affect the interface cracking mode. And the crack propagation can be promoted or impeded by adjusting the applied field. The structure with a larger volume fraction of active material will be more likely to crack.