Finite element modelling on time dependent ferroelectric behaviour of 1–3 piezocomposites

Experiments are conducted to measure the effective properties and also the time dependent behaviour of 1–3 piezocomposites and bulk piezoceramics subjected to cyclic electric field at room temperature under quasi static loading condition in the non-linear regime. Experimental dielectric and butterfly hysteresis show that 1–3 piezocomposite exhibits the time dependent behaviour. Hence a viscoelastic based numerical model has been proposed to predict the time dependent effective properties of 1–3 piezocomposites and bulk piezoceramics. The predicted effective properties are incorporated in the proposed 3D finite element based micromechanical model to predict the time dependent non-linear electromechanical behaviour of 1–3 piezocomposites and compared with experimental observations. The experimental and simulated results show that the presence of epoxy polymer constituent in 1–3 piezocomposite has an influence on the non-linear time dependent electromechanical response of 1–3 piezocomposite.