Phase switching phenomenon in magnetoelectric laminate polymer composites: Experiments and modeling

This article reports on the magnetoelectric (ME) effect observed in bi- and trilayered polymers consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyurethane (PU) filled with magnetically hard magnetite Fe3O4 or Terfenol-D(TeD) magnetostrictive material. The samples had the following compositions: (PU+2 wt% Fe3O4/PVDF), (PU+2 wt% Fe3O4/PVDF/PU+2 wt% Fe3O4), (PU+50 wt% TeD/PVDF) and (PU+50 wt% TeD/PVDF/PU+50 wt% TeD). A model, based on a driven damped oscillation system, has been developed to evaluate and study the influence of the first and second-order ME coefficients on the dc magnetic field-induced phase switching phenomenon between dynamic ME current and the applied ac magnetic field. A good agreement between the simulated results and experimental data was obtained and it was found that phase switching characteristics are mainly influenced by the ME losses induced by magnetostriction losses.