Eshelby’s problem in an anisotropic multiferroic bimaterial plane

We solve analytically the Eshelby’s problem in an anisotropic multiferroic bimaterial plane. The solution is based on the extended Stroh formalism of complex variables, and is valid for the inclusion of arbitrary shapes, described by a Laurent polynomial, a polygon, or the one bounded by a Jordan curve. Furthermore, the results in the corresponding half plane and full plane can be reduced directly from the bimaterial-plane solution. As such, the solution unifies the complex variable method and the Green’s function method, extending further to the multiferroic bimaterial plane of general anisotropy. The essential eigenfunctions are also identified by which the induced fields can be simply determined. Numerical results are presented to investigate the features of these eigenfunctions as well as the strain, electric and magnetic fields (components of the extended Eshelby tensor). Particularly, we present the values of these fields at the center of the N-side regular polygonal inclusion and also the average values of these fields over the inclusion area. The effect of the half-plane traction-free surface condition as well as the effect of various couplings on the induced fields is discussed in detail. For the N-side regular polygonal inclusion, it is found that, when the inclusion is in the full plane, both the center and average values of the Eshelby tensor are independent of the side number N, except for N = 4. We further show that the piezoelectric and piezomagnetic coupling coefficients could significantly affect the Eshelby tensor. These features should be useful in controlling the Eshelby tensor for the design of better multiferroic composites. Typical contours of the field quantities in and around the inclusion bounded by both straight and curved line segments in a multiferroic bimaterial plane are also presented.