Features of electromechanical properties of 1-3 composites based on PbTiO3-type ceramics

This work is devoted to the comparative study on 1-3 ferroelectric ceramic/polymer composites based on solid solutions of (Pb1-xCax)TiO3 with 0.10 <= x <= 0.30. Effective electromechanical properties of these composites are determined in a volume fraction range 0 < m <= 0.60 by means of the effective field method, the finite element method and using the dilute approach. The computed effective properties are compared and discussed for the case when the ( Pb1-xCax) TiO3 ceramic component exhibits the largest piezoelectric anisotropy at 0.10 <= x <= 0.30. Rigorous lower and upper bounds on the effective electromechanical properties are evaluated on the basis of the approach developed by Bisegna and Luciano (1996 J. Mech. Phys. Solids 44 583).