Theoretical analyses of magnetoelectric effects for magnetostrictive/radial mode piezoelectric transformer composite under dual ac stress and magnetic field modulation

Abstract

Magnetoelectric (ME) composite based on the converse magnetoelectric (CME) effect is promising for the high sensitivity dc and low-frequency magnetic field detection application, however, the performance is restricted by the stress modulation ability of piezoelectric phases and the narrow bandwidth. This work presents a nonlinear equivalent circuit model to design a new ME composite consisting of magnetostrictive layers/radial mode piezoelectric transformer/magnetostrictive layers under dual ac magnetic field and stress modulation. The theoretical model is based on the nonlinear constitutive relationships of magnetostrictive material, motion equation with imperfect interface condition, and improved ME equivalent circuit. This model cannot only predict the resonant ME effects of electrically modulated ME composite under the dual ac stress and magnetic field drive, but can also predict the conventional CME and mutual inductance effects separately. Specifically, the theoretical prediction indicates that with negligible extra power consumption, the dual modulated ME composite provides higher dc and low-frequency magnetic field sensitivity with frequency conversion method and significantly wider bandwidth compared to the conventional CME effect. Such theoretical predictions are further verified by the experimental results of Metglas/piezoelectric transformer/Metglas and Terfenol-D/piezoelectric transformer/Terfenol-D laminate. The theoretical study plays a guiding role in designing the new ME magnetometer with low power consumption, high sensitivity, and wide bandwidth.