Transverse surface waves in a piezoelectric material carrying a gradient metal layer of finite thickness

The existence and propagation behavior of transverse surface waves in a layered structure concerning a piezoelectric substrate and a gradient metal layer are theoretically investigated in this paper. The Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) method is applied to obtain the analytical solutions in the gradient metal layer. The dispersion equation for transverse surface waves in such structure is obtained in a quite simple mathematical form, where the material gradient of the metal layer assumes arbitrary functions. Effects of material gradient on three types of dispersion behavior are discussed in detail based on a proper classification. Numerical results show that the material gradient in the metal layer evidently affects the fundamental mode shape of the transverse surface waves but has negligible effects on the higher order modes.