<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">MSA</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Materials Sciences and Applications</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2153-117X</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Scientific Research Publishing</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.4236/msa.2016.71006</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">MSA-63260</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2"><subject>Chemistry&amp;Materials Science</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>
 
 
  Nonlinear and Rate-Dependent Hysteretic Responses of Active Hybrid Composites
 
</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>hien-Hong</surname><given-names>Lin</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Anastasia</surname><given-names>Muliana</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sup>1</sup></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><addr-line>Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&amp;amp;M University, College Station, TX, USA</addr-line></aff><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>28</day><month>01</month><year>2016</year></pub-date><volume>07</volume><issue>01</issue><fpage>51</fpage><lpage>72</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>14</day>	<month>December</month>	<year>2015</year></date><date date-type="rev-recd"><day>accepted</day>	<month>26</month>	<year>January</year>	</date><date date-type="accepted"><day>29</day>	<month>January</month>	<year>2016</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>&#169; Copyright  2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. </copyright-statement><copyright-year>2014</copyright-year><license><license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</license-p></license></permissions><abstract><p>
 
 
  Nonlinear electro-mechanical behaviors of piezoelectric materials and viscoelastic nature of polymers result in the overall nonlinear and hysteretic responses of active polymeric composites. This study presents a hybrid-unit-cell model for obtaining the effective nonlinear and rate-dependent hysteretic electro-mechanical responses of hybrid piezocomposites. The studied hybrid piezocomposites consist of unidirectional piezoelectric fibers embedded in a polymeric matrix, which is reinforced with piezoelectric particles. The hybrid-unit-cell model is derived based on a unit-cell model of fiber-reinforced composites consisting of fiber and matrix subcells, in which the matrix subcells are comprised of a unit-cell model of particle-reinforced composites. Nonlinear electro-mechanical responses are considered for the piezoelectric constituents while a viscoelastic solid constitutive model is used for the polymer constituent. The hybrid-unit cell model is used to examine the effects of different responses of the constituents, microstructural arrangements, and loading histories on the overall nonlinear and hysteretic electro-mechanical responses of the hybrid piezocomposites, which are useful in designing active polymeric composites.
 
</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Piezoelectric</kwd><kwd> Polarization Switching</kwd><kwd> Micromechanics</kwd><kwd> Hybrid Composites</kwd><kwd> Nonlinear  Electro-Mechanical Coupling</kwd><kwd> Viscoelasticity</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><body><sec id="s1"><title>1. Introduction</title><p>Piezoelectric fiber-reinforced composites have widely been used in aerospace, automobiles and medical industries due to their inherently large electro-mechanical coupling effects, compliant and lightweight characteristics. For example, a piezoelectric fiber-reinforced composite has a relatively high electro-mechanical coupling property <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x7.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><sup>1</sup>, as reported by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref1">1</xref>] , and large in-plane actuations as experimentally observed by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref2">2</xref>] . Polymers are often used as matrix in the piezoelectric fiber-reinforced composites. However, polymers have relatively low mechanical and electrical properties compared to those of piezoceramic fibers, such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) fibers; thus, limiting the potential applications of the piezocomposites. Significant mismatches in the electro-mechanical properties of the fiber and matrix can lead to high stress discontinuities at the interface between the fibers and matrix, which can cause debonding. Neat polymeric matrix is often modified by adding particulate fillers in order to improve the properties of the polymeric matrix, which forms a hybrid composite with fibers and particles embedded in polymeric matrix. There have been several experimental studies on enhancing the mechanical properties of fibrous composites by dispersing particulate fillers into the matrix. For examples, hybrid composites show significant improvements in the transverse strength ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref3">3</xref>] and [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref4">4</xref>] ), the flexural strength [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref5">5</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref7">7</xref>] , the longitudinal compressive strength [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref8">8</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref12">12</xref>] , and the bearing strength [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref13">13</xref>] . References [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref14">14</xref>] and [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref2">2</xref>] have shown that improvement in the overall dielectric constants of a fibrous piezocomposite can be achieved by adding PZT powder with a dispersing agent into the epoxy matrix. Reference [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref2">2</xref>] also shows that a matrix system incorporating both dielectric and conductive fillers reduces the magnitude of voltages required for poling the fibrous piezocomposites. Reference [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref15">15</xref>] discusses that fibrous piezocomposites, which have relatively low transverse stiffness, are unable to bear large transverse loads without any additional substrates to enhance the structural stiffness.</p><p>Micromechanical models have been used to determine the overall electro-mechanical properties of piezocomposites, which focus mainly on the linear electro-mechanical responses of two-phase piezocomposites, e.g., [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref14">14</xref>] [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref16">16</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref19">19</xref>] , and [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref21">21</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref23">23</xref>] for example. Nonlinear electro-mechanical responses of the two-phase piezocomposites with elastic or viscoelastic polymeric matrices are also studied using micromechanical models, which can be found in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref23">23</xref>] - [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref26">26</xref>] . There have been limited micromechanical models for predicting the overall hysteretic polarization response, i.e., polarization switching behavior, of unidirectional piezoelectric fiber composites, e.g., [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref19">19</xref>] -[<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref27">27</xref>] . The above studies consider rate-independent electro-mechanical response of the piezoelectric constituent. While extensive micromechanics studies have been done on understanding responses of piezoelectric fiber composites, only limited micromechanical models are available for predicting the overall responses of hybrid piezocomposites, i.e., active composites comprising of multiple types and shapes of inclusions/inhomogeneities. Reference [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref30">30</xref>] uses the correspondence principle in conjunction with the Mori-Tanaka model to evaluate the effective loss factor of a hybrid piezocomposite having shunted piezoelectric particles embedded in a conductive particle reinforced matrix. This model is extended by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref31">31</xref>] to derive the effective loss factor for a hybrid piezocomposite with orientation-dependent piezoelectric inhomogeneities and conductive inhomogeneities dispersed in a viscoelastic polymer.</p><p>In many applications, hybrid piezocomposites consisting of PZT inhomogeneities and polymeric matrix are often exposed to various mechanical and electrical stimuli. Large electric driving fields can cause significant nonlinear strain responses of polarized PZTs [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref32">32</xref>] , which are often a case in actuators. A polarized PZT may be depolarized if an electric field that is greater than the coercive field limit of the material is applied opposite to the current poling direction, or if a relatively high compressive load is applied along the poling axis, or if its operating temperature exceeds the Curie temperature. Depending on the magnitude and duration of exposure to the external stimuli and boundary conditions, PZTs can exhibit time-dependent and nonlinear electro-mechanical coupling effects, and the polymeric matrix can experience pronounced viscoelastic behavior. Therefore, hybrid piezocomposites can experience overall nonlinear time-dependent and hysteretic electro-mechanical responses. It is then necessary to study the overall nonlinear and rate-dependent hysteretic behaviors of the hybrid piezocomposites prior to designing and fabricating smart devices made of these piezocomposites, which is currently limited.</p><p>This study presents formulations of a hybrid unit-cell model for determining the effective nonlinear and hysteretic responses of hybrid piezocomposites, which consist of unidirectional piezoelectric fibers embedded in a viscoelastic polymeric matrix reinforced with piezoelectric particle fillers, subjected to high electric fields and mechanical stresses. In this paper, fibers and particles are made of PZTs; however, the unit-cell model formulation is general and can incorporate different piezoelectric materials for the different inhomogeneities. We consider both nonlinear electro-mechanical response of polarized PZTs and polarization switching behavior of PZTs under large cyclic electric field inputs. This article is organized as follows: Section 2 briefly discusses the constitutive models for the constituents followed by numerical methods for solving the coupled nonlinear electro- mechanical constitutive models in Section 3. Section 4 presents the formulation of the hybrid-unit-cell model for obtaining the effective nonlinear and rate-dependent hysteretic response of composites. Numerical results on the effective responses of the hybrid piezocomposites are discussed in Section 5. Section 6 is dedicated to conclusions.</p></sec><sec id="s2"><title>2. Constitutive Models for the Constituents</title><p>PZTs are polarized by applying high electric field, above the coercive electric field at elevated temperature [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref33">33</xref>] before they are used in sensing and actuating applications. The polarized PZTs show electro-mechanical coupling response, which is quantified by piezoelectric constants. When high electric field is prescribed to the polarized PZTs, which is often the case in actuator applications, they exhibit nonlinear electro-mechanical coupling response. In this study, we use the constitutive model proposed by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref34">34</xref>] for modeling nonlinear responses of polarized PZTs subjected to large electric field but smaller than coercive electric field of the PZTs, which is within a range in practical applications. Another type of nonlinear electro-mechanical coupling response is hysteretic polarization switching response. Polarization switching can occur when high amplitude of cyclic electric field above the coercive electric field of the materials is considered. We adopt the constitutive model proposed by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] for modeling the hysteretic polarization switching of PZTs. Finally a linear viscoelastic constitutive model is used for the polymer constituent.</p><sec id="s2_1"><title>2.1. Polarized PZTs</title><p>A nonlinear constitutive model proposed by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref34">34</xref>] for polarized PZTs undergoing large electric fields and small strains is given as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula466"><label>(1)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x9.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula467"><label>(2)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x10.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x11.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x12.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x13.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x14.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are the scalar components of strain, stress, electric field and electric displacement, respectively. The material properties are the elastic compliances <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x15.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> determined at a constant electric field, the third- and fourth-order piezoelectric strain coefficients <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x16.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x17.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, respectively, which are determined at constant stresses; and the second- and third-order dielectric coefficients <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x18.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x19.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> calibrated at constant stresses. The higher-order term of the electric field is introduced in order to better capture the nonlinear response of the polarized PZTs due to large electric driving fields.</p></sec><sec id="s2_2"><title>2.2. Hysteretic Polarization Switching of PZTs</title><p>A rate-dependent electro-mechanical constitutive model, incorporating polarization switching response, formulated by [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] , is given as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula468"><label>(3)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x20.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula469"><label>(4)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x21.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x22.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the scalar component of the third-order piezoelectric coefficient which is dependent on the current polarization <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x22.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x23.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> with the x<sub>3</sub> direction chosen as the poling axis. The upper right superscript t indicates the current time. The piezoelectric constant <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x22.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x23.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x24.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is assumed as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula470"><label>(5)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x25.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x26.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the scalar component of the third-order piezoelectric coefficient measured at constant (remanent) polarization<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x26.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x27.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. It is noted that<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x26.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x27.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x28.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x26.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x27.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x28.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x29.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the direct piezoelectric constant measured at remanent polarization. The scalar components of the polarization are</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula471"><label>(6)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x30.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula472"><label>(7)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x31.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula473"><label>(8)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x32.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x33.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the time-dependent reversible polarization at current time t with <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x33.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x34.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> while <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x33.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x34.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x35.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the residual (irreversible) polarization. The upper right superscript <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x33.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x34.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x35.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x36.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> denotes the previous time variable. The reversible polarization is written as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula474"><label>(9)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x37.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula475"><label>(10)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x38.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Both <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x39.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x39.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x40.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are function of<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x39.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x40.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x41.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. The characteristic time <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x39.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x40.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x41.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x42.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> indicates the speed of polarization changes. The irreversible polarization is given as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula476"><label>(11)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x43.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The rate of the residual polarization during polarization switching response is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula477"><label>(12)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x44.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x45.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are the material parameters that are calibrated from experiments. A similar function with different material parameters can be used for modeling the initial polarization, as discussed in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref36">36</xref>] .</p><p>The compressive stresses along the poling axis could significantly affect the hysteretic polarization switching response. In this study, it is assumed that the coercive electric field varies with the compressive stresses along the x<sub>3</sub> direction:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula478"><label>(13)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x46.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x47.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the coercive electric field in absence of mechanical stresses. In order to incorporate the effect of compressive stress on the polarization switching responses, it is assumed that the compressive stress that is higher than the coercive stress limit affects the current polarization state <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x47.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x48.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and the piezoelectric coefficient<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x47.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x48.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x49.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula479"><label>(14)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x50.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x51.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the coercive stress limit and C<sub>2</sub> is a material parameter. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref> shows that the rate-dependent electro-mechanical constitutive model can capture the hysteretic polarization and butterfly strain responses of a stress free PZT-51 undergoing a cyclic electric field input. The experimental data of the PZT-51 are obtained from [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref37">37</xref>] . The material parameters used to capture the hysteretic polarization and strain responses are given in Tables 1-4.</p><fig-group id="fig1"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref></label><caption><title> (a) Hysteretic polarization and (b) butterfly strain responses for a stress free PZT-51.</title></caption><fig id ="fig1_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x52.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig1_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x53.png"/></fig></fig-group><table-wrap id="table1" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table1">Table 1</xref></label><caption><title> Material parameters for the time-dependent polarization of PZT-51 ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x54.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (MV/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x55.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−9</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x56.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−9</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x57.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (sec)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x58.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−6</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x59.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x60.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−6</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x61.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.67</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >70</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >225</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.35</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1.6</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><table-wrap id="table2" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table2">Table 2</xref></label><caption><title> Electro-mechanical coupling parameters for PZT-51 ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x62.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−12</sup> m/V)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x63.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−12</sup> m/V)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x64.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−9</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x65.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−9</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x66.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (C/m<sup>2</sup>)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x67.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1520</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >−570</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >38</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >42</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.194</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.19</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><table-wrap id="table3" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table3">Table 3</xref></label><caption><title> Elastic constants for PZT-51 ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x68.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (GPa)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x69.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (GPa)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x70.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (GPa)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x71.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (GPa)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x72.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x73.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >34.48</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >33.00</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >13.19</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >12.37</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.307</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.334</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><table-wrap id="table4" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table4">Table 4</xref></label><caption><title> Material parameters above the coercive stress limit for PZT-51 ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x74.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (MPa)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x75.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x76.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−6</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x77.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x78.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (&#215;10<sup>−6</sup> F/m)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x79.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.40</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1.1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >4</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap></sec><sec id="s2_3"><title>2.3. Polymers</title><p>The polymeric matrix is assumed as an isotropic viscoelastic solid, which is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula480"><label>(15)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x80.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula481"><label>(16)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x81.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x82.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the Kronecker delta. <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x82.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x83.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x82.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x83.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x84.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are the time-dependent shear and bulk compliances, respectively. <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x82.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x83.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x84.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x85.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x82.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x83.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x84.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x85.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x86.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are the scalar components of the deviatoric and volumetric stress tensors at time t, respectively. To reduce complexity in modeling the viscoelastic response of the hybrid piezocomposites, we shall assume that the corresponding linear elastic Poisson’s ratio v for the polymers is time-independent. The shear and bulk compliance share the same time function as the extensional (uniaxial) compliance:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula482"><label>(17)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x87.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula483"><label>(18)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x88.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x89.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the time-dependent uniaxial compliance, which is expressed as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula484"><label>(19)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x90.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Here D<sub>0</sub> is the instantaneous (elastic) compliance and the transient compliance is expressed in terms of a series of exponential functions, where N is the number of terms, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x91.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>is the n<sup>th</sup> coefficient of the time-dependent compliance and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x91.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x92.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the n<sup>th</sup> reciprocal of retardation time.</p></sec></sec><sec id="s3"><title>3. Linearized Forms of the Nonlinear Constitutive Models</title><p>For convenience in analyzing the time-dependent and nonlinear electro-mechanical behavior, we present a linearized incremental form of the constitutive relations, i.e., Equations (1), (2), (3), (4), (15) and (16). A recursive time-integration algorithm presented in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref38">38</xref>] is used to numerically evaluate the time integral forms of the constitutive models such as for Equations (9) and (15). The incremental independent field variables at current time t are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula485"><label>(20)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x93.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula486"><label>(21)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x94.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where superscript <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x95.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> denotes the previous time and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x95.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x96.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the current incremental time.</p><p>The linearized constitutive relation can be expressed in a single equation, which follows a conventional indicial notation with lower case subscripts range from 1 to 3 while upper case subscripts range from 1 to 4:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula487"><label>(22)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x97.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula488"><label>(23)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x98.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula489"><label>(24)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x99.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula490"><label>(25)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x100.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The components of <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are represented by a 9 by 9 matrix. Vectors <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are 9 by 1 column vectors and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x104.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the history variables of the dependent field variables<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x104.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x105.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. A factor of two for the shear strains is accounted for in the vector<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x104.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x105.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x106.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. This matrix formulation of the linearized constitutive relation will be used in the following micromechanical analysis. After some algebraic manipulations, the resulting components of <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x104.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x105.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x106.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x107.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x101.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x102.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x103.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x104.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x105.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x106.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x107.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x108.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> for each constitutive model are summarized as:</p><sec id="s3_1"><title>3.1. Polarized PZTs</title><p>From Equations (1) and (2), the resulting components of <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x109.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x109.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x110.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula491"><label>(26)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x111.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula></sec><sec id="s3_2"><title>3.2. Hysteretic Polarization Switching Response</title><p>From Equations (3) and (4), the resulting components of <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x112.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x112.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x113.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula492"><label>(27)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x114.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x115.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x115.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x116.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> in Equation (10) are considered as linear functions:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula493"><label>(28)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x117.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x118.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the dielectric constant of a macroscopically unpolarized PZT and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x118.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x119.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is the time-dependent part of the dielectric constant. In Equation (27) <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x118.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x119.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x120.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula494"><label>(29)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x121.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Using the rate of residual polarization in Equation (12), the incremental residual polarization at current time t is approximated by:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula495"><label>(30)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x122.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Finally, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x123.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x123.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x124.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are expressed as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula496"><label>(31)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x125.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula497"><label>(32)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x126.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where the history variable related to the polarization is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula498"><label>(33)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x127.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>and the incremental polarization is determined by:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula499"><label>(34)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x128.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula></sec><sec id="s3_3"><title>3.3. Polymers</title><p>From Equations (15) and (16), the resulting components of <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x129.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x129.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x130.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula500"><label>(35)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x131.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x132.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x132.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x133.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x132.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x133.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x134.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x132.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x133.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x134.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x135.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> in Equation (35) are given as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula501"><label>(36)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x136.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where the history variables related to the deviatoric and volumetric strains are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula502"><label>(37)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x137.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula></sec></sec><sec id="s4"><title>4. Hybrid-Unit-Cell Model</title><p>This section presents formulations of a hybrid-unit-cell model for obtaining the overall responses of hybrid piezocomposites whose constituents experience nonlinear electro-mechanical and viscoelastic behaviors. The microstructures of a hybrid piezocomposite are idealized with periodically distributed fibers of square cross section in a matrix medium and the microstructures of the matrix are idealized with periodically distributed cubic particles in a homogeneous viscoelastic matrix. Here, we consider a unit cell as the smallest representative microstructures and each unit cell is divided into several subcells. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref> illustrates an idealized unit-cell model of the hybrid piezocomposites. At the upper scale, a hybrid-unit-cell model consists of a fiber unit-cell, comprising of four fiber and matrix subcells, and the lower scale is a particle-unit-cell model, having eight particle and polymer subcells. The particle unit-cell model is implemented at each matrix subcell in the fiber unit-cell model.</p><fig id="fig2"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref></label><caption><title> Hybrid-unit-cell model</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x138.png"/></fig><p>The first subcell of the fiber unit cell is the piezoelectric fiber constituent and the rest of the subcells represent the matrix, whose response is determined from a homogenized active composite of the particulate unit cells. The first subcell of the particulate unit cell is the piezoelectric particle constituent and the remaining subcells in the particulate unit cell indicate the homogeneous viscoelastic matrix. The fibrous and particulate unit cells lead to rather simple micromechanical relations by satisfying equilibrium condition and displacement compatibility among all subcells. The time-integration algorithm for the rate-dependent PZT (Equation (9)) and viscoelastic matrix (Equation (15)) is nested to the hybrid-unit-cell model in order to obtain approximate solutions of the overall nonlinear and time-dependent responses of the hybrid piezocomposites. The cross section of the fiber is assumed to be square and the one of the particle is taken to be a cube, which is done to simplify the micromechanics formulation. In the previous work by one of the author ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref27">27</xref>] ) shows that this geometrical simplification gives very good predictions of the overall polarization switching responses of active fiber composites when compared to experimental data. This means that for mainly determining the overall nonlinear responses of composites the effect of detailed shapes of the cross-sectional geometries of the inclusions is rather insignificant.</p><p>For the derivation of the hybrid-unit-cell model, we start with the fibrous unit cell. Using a volume-average scheme, the effective field variable, denoted by an overbar, of the fibrous unit cell at current time t is written as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula503"><label>(38)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x139.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The superscript <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x140.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> denotes the subcell’s number of the fibrous unit cell. The fiber volume fraction is defined as <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x140.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x141.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (i.e., volume fraction of the fibers with respect to the hybrid piezocomposite) and the fibrous unit cell volume is given by<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x140.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x141.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x142.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. A linearized constitutive relation for the fibrous piezocomposite at current time t is written as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula504"><label>(39)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x143.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>and also for the subcell <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x144.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula505"><label>(40)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x145.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>In order to relate the effective incremental independent field variables in the fibrous unit cell to the corresponding incremental field variables in its subcells, a concentration matrix <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x146.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and a vector of history variable <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x146.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x147.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> at current time t are defined through the relation:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula506"><label>(41)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x148.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Substituting <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x149.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> from Equation (41) into (40) gives</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula507"><label>(42)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x150.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Substituting <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x151.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> from Equation (42) into (38) gives</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula508"><label>(43)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x152.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>From Equations (43) and (39), the effective electro-mechanical property and history variable of the fibrous unit cell are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula509"><label>(44)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x153.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula510"><label>(45)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x154.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The linearized constitutive model for the fiber subcell I is obtained directly from Equation (22). The matrix subcells II, III, and IV in the fiber unit cell consist of piezoelectric fillers dispersed in the polymeric matrix. The electro-mechanical properties of these subcells are determined using the particle unit-cell model, comprising of eight subcells (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref>). The average field variables in the matrix subcells II, III, and IV are determined as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula511"><label>(46)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x155.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The superscript <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> indicates the subcells’ numbers corresponding to the particulate unit cell <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and fiber unit cell<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. The particle volume fraction is defined as <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> (volume fraction of the filler particles in the polymeric matrix) which should be the same as <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x160.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x160.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x161.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. The corresponding particulate unit cell volumes are given by <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x160.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x161.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x162.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> with<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x160.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x161.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x162.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x163.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. The linearized constitutive relation for the particulate subcell <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x156.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x157.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x158.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x159.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x160.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x161.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x162.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x163.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x164.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> at current time t is:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula512"><label>(47)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x165.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>It is also necessary to determine the concentration matrix for the particulate unit-cell <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x166.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and the vector of history variable <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x166.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x167.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> at current time t, which are defined through the relation:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula513"><label>(48)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x168.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>The above equation relates the incremental independent field variables of the matrix subcells II, III and IV to the corresponding incremental field variables of the particulate and polymer subcells. Substituting Equation (48) into Equation (47) and using the volume-average scheme in Equation (46), the corresponding dependent field variables for the matrix subcells are:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula514"><label>(49)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x169.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Comparing Equation (49) to Equation (40) gives the overall electro-mechanical properties and history variables of the matrix subcells:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula515"><label>(50)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x170.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula516"><label>(51)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x171.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Finally, in order to evaluate the concentration matrices and history variables<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x172.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x172.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x173.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x172.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x173.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x174.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x172.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x173.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x174.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x175.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>in the hybrid-unit-cell model it is necessary to use the constitutive relations for the piezoelectric and polymer constituents together with the linearized micromechanical relations from the fibrous unit cell and the particulate unit cells. The linearized micromechanical relations for the fibrous and particulate unit cells can be found in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref25">25</xref>] . Because of the nonlinear constitutive relations for the constituents, the linearized micromechanical relations generally violate the overall nonlinear responses, which results in the following residual vector:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula517"><label>(52)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x176.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula518"><label>(53)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x177.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x178.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> results from the stress and electric field equilibrium conditions in the subcells, and the differences in the history variables from the displacement compatibility and electric displacement continuity at the interfaces between the adjacent subcells. <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x178.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x179.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>matrix is a function of the electric fields, material parameters and the volume fraction of each subcell at current time t and the <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x178.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x179.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x180.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> matrix is a constant matrix from the micromechanical relations. The dimension of each matrix is denoted on its bottom. A fixed-point iterative method is used to minimize the above residual vector at each time step. Once the residual vector has been minimized, the increment of the independent field variable in each subcell is given as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula519"><label>(54)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x181.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>where</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula520"><label>(55)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x182.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula521"><label>(56)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x183.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x184.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>comprises the elements of the concentration matrices <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x184.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x185.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x184.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x185.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x186.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, i.e.,</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula522"><label>(57)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x187.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x188.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>includes the history variables <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x188.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x189.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x188.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x189.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x190.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, i.e.,</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula523"><label>(58)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x191.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p>Once<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x195.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> have been determined, the effective electro-mechanical property <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x195.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x196.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and the field variable <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x195.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x196.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x197.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> are evaluated via Equations (44), (50) and (38), (42), (50), (51), respectively. It is noted that different incremental independent field variables, e.g., (<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x195.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x196.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x197.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x198.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>,<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x192.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x193.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x194.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x195.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x196.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x197.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x198.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x199.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>) can be chosen to derive the hybrid- unit-cell model following a similar procedure.</p></sec><sec id="s5"><title>5. Numerical Implementation</title><p>This section presents numerical analyses of the hybrid-unit-cell model. We first compare the predictions of the effective properties of hybrid composites with existing experimental data, which is limited to linear elastic moduli. We then conduct parametric studies on investigating the effects of constituent compositions, boundary conditions and loading history on the overall performance of hybrid piezocomposites.</p><sec id="s5_1"><title>5.1. Comparison with Experimental Data</title><p>Available experimental data for hybrid composites were primarily focused on the overall mechanical properties. The presented nonlinear hybrid-unit-cell model should be capable of predicting the overall properties of the hybrid composites without electro-mechanical coupling effect. Reference [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref5">5</xref>] reported the effective longitudinal Young’s modulus of a hybrid composite with unidirectional carbon fibers dispersed in an alumina/epoxy matrix with the alumina particle volume fraction of 0.1. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>(a) depicts the comparisons of the longitudinal elastic moduli of the hybrid composites and fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites obtained from the hybrid unit-cell model and experimental data. For the FRP composite, a hybrid unit-cell with zero percent particle volume content is considered. Adding particle to the polymeric matrix slightly improves the effective longitudinal moduli of the hybrid composite. Slight variation between the prediction and experimental data is observed, indicating that the micromechanics model give a reasonable predictions. Since [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref5">5</xref>] did not report the constituent properties, we calibrate the transverse and longitudinal moduli (E<sub>22</sub> and E<sub>33</sub>) for the carbon fiber and the modulus (E) for the epoxy by using the experimental data on the FRP composite with the fiber volume fraction 0.41 shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>(a)<sup>2</sup>. The constituent properties used in the simulation are listed in <xref ref-type="table" rid="table5">Table 5</xref>. The experimental data for the effective transverse moduli shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>(b) were obtained from [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref40">40</xref>] . Using the fiber volume fraction 0.4 with the alumina particle volume fraction 0.1 shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>(a) we further determine the elastic modulus of the alumina, which is 416 GPa<sup>3</sup>. The calibrated material properties are then used to evaluate the effective longitudinal and transverse moduli of the hybrid composite with different fiber volume contents, as shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref> (indicated by solid lines). It is seen that adding stiffer particles to the polymeric matrix can significantly enhance the transverse modulus. Reference [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref40">40</xref>] did not report the experimental data for the transverse moduli of the hybrid composite.</p></sec><sec id="s5_2"><title>5.2. Parametric Studies</title><p>We first examine the effect of constituent compositions on the overall nonlinear electro-mechanical responses of a hybrid piezocomposite subjected to large electric fields but lower than coercive electric field (the constitutive relations in Equations (1) and (2) are used for polarized PZT fibers and particles). The matrix of the hybrid piezocomposite is first considered as elastic solid such as Araldite D while the polarized PZT-G1195 is used for the inhomogeneities<sup>4</sup>. The material properties of the Araldite D and polarized PZT-G1195 used for simulations reported in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref42">42</xref>] and [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref25">25</xref>] , respectively.</p><p><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref> shows the effective transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and longitudinal stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> due to an applied electric field <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x203.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> along the poling direction, which is the longitudinal fiber direction (x<sub>3</sub> axis) up to 1 MV/m<sup>5</sup> for a fully constrained displacement of the PZT-G1195/[PZT-G1195/Araldite D] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-G1195 fiber volume fraction (VF) = 0.4 and several PZT-G1195 particle VFs = 0 - 0.5. The linear response for the composite with zero content of PZT-G1195 fillers is also shown for comparison. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>(a) shows that as the filler VF increases the effective transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x203.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x204.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is significantly enhanced while the effective longitudinal stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x203.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x204.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x205.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is insensitive to the existence of piezoelectric fillers even for higher particle contents, as shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>(b). This is due to the fact that the transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x203.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x204.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x205.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x206.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is a matrix-dominated response and high stiffness of the PZT-G1195 fillers increases the stiffness of the overall matrix. In contrast, the longitudinal stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x201.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x202.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x203.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x204.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x205.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x206.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x207.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is a fiber-dominated response and insignificant improvements in the longitudinal properties are shown with adding PZT-G1195 fillers. Thus, dispersing stiffer fillers into a softer matrix in a fibrous piezocomposite will be useful for improving the blocked stress for the 3 - 1 operating mode.</p><p>We also consider a stress free boundary condition for a PZT-G1195/[PZT-G1195/Araldite D] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-G1195 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-G1195 particle VF varies from 0 to 0.5, subjected to an applied electric field <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x208.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> along the poling direction up to 1 MV/m. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref> depicts the effective transverse strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x208.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x209.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and longitudinal strain<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x208.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x209.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x210.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. The absolute values of the effective strains <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x208.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x209.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x210.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x211.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x208.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x209.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x210.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x211.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x212.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> both decrease as the PZT-G1195 fillers increase. This is because adding PZT-G1195 particles in the matrix increases the stiffness of the matrix and leads to a stiffer hybrid piezocomposite, which causes less actuation strains under the same electric field input. It is known that in piezoelectric materials larger blocked stresses are accompanied by smaller</p><fig-group id="fig3"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref></label><caption><title> Comparison of the micromechanical predictions to experimental data, (a) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref5">5</xref>] and (b) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref40">40</xref>] , for the effective longitudinal elastic moduli for the hybrid (solid lines) and FRP (dotted lines) composites as a function of fiber volume fraction. The hybrid composite is formed by carbon fibers embedded in the epoxy matrix which is reinforced by 0.1 volume fraction of alumina particles.</title></caption><fig id ="fig3_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x213.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig3_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x214.png"/></fig></fig-group><fig-group id="fig4"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref></label><caption><title> Effective (a) transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x217.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and (b) longitudinal stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x217.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x218.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> responses for the fully constrained displacement of the PZT-G1195/[PZT-G1195/Araldite D] hybrid piezocomposite with a fixed PZT-G1195 fiber VF = 0.4 and various PZT-G1195 particle VFs, 0.0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5, due to an applied electric field <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x217.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x218.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x219.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> along the poling direction.</title></caption><fig id ="fig4_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x215.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig4_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x216.png"/></fig></fig-group><fig-group id="fig5"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref></label><caption><title> Effective (a) transverse strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x222.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and (b) longitudinal strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x222.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x223.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> responses for the stress free PZT-G1195/ [PZT-G1195/Araldite D] hybrid piezocomposite with a fixed PZT-G1195 fiber VF = 0.4 and various PZT-G1195 particle VFs, 0.0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5, due to an applied electric field <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x222.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x223.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x224.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> along the poling direction.</title></caption><fig id ="fig5_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x220.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig5_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x221.png"/></fig></fig-group><p>free strains, and vice versa. Adding stiffer fillers, i.e., PZTs, into a relatively soft matrix, i.e., polymer, in a fiber- reinforced piezocomposite is done to improve the transverse blocked stress.</p><p>In order to study the time-dependent responses due a viscoelastic constituent in a hybrid piezocomposite, FM73 polymer whose dielectric constants are taken as <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x225.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> is used for the polymer constituent and its viscoelastic properties are given in <xref ref-type="table" rid="table6">Table 6</xref>. Fully constrained PZT-G1195/[PZT-G1195/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposites with PZT-G1195 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-G1195 particle filler VFs = 0 and 0.5 are subjected to a cyclic electric field, <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x225.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x226.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>MV/m along the poling direction with various frequencies f = 0.5, 1 and 10 Hz. The response of the effective transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x225.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x226.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x227.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> amplitude (maximum stress) as a function of number of cycles at different loading frequencies is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref>. As the number of cycles increase (longer duration of loading), the stress amplitude decreases until it reaches steady value, i.e., fully relaxed stress state. Higher frequency leads to more cycle needed to reach steady state, which is expected since slow input would give enough time for the viscoelastic polymers to experience stress relaxation. The hybrid piezocomposite (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref>(a)) and the fiber-reinforced piezocomposite (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref>(b)) experience the same trends under cyclic loading with higher effective blocked stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x225.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x226.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x227.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x228.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> in the hybrid piezocom- posite.</p><p>Next, we investigate the overall hysteretic polarization switching and butterfly strain responses of a hybrid piezocomposite with various constituent compositions and under different loading histories. The constitutive relations in Equations (3) and (4) are used for polarization switching response of PZT-51 fibers and particles. The matrix of the hybrid piezocomposite is considered as FM73 polymer.</p><p><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref> depicts steady state electric displacement and longitudinal strain responses of a stress free boundary condition for a PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VFs = 0.0, 0.2 and 0.4, subjected to a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x229.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m along</p><table-wrap id="table5" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table5">Table 5</xref></label><caption><title> Mechanical properties of the carbon fiber, epoxy and alumina (The material properties are determined from [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref5">5</xref>] and [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref40">40</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" ></th><th align="center" valign="middle" >Carbon fiber</th><th align="center" valign="middle" ></th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Longitudinal Young’s modulus, E<sub>33</sub> (GPa)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >198</td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Transverse Young’s modulus, E<sub>22</sub> (GPa)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >16</td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Major Poisson’s ratio, v<sub>31</sub></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.20</td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >In-plane Poisson’s ratio, v<sub>12</sub></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.25</td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Longitudinal shear modulus, G<sub>31</sub> (GPa)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >28</td><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" ></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Epoxy</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >Alumina</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Young’s modulus, E (GPa)</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >3.4</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >416</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >Poisson’s ratio, v</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.35</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.23</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><table-wrap id="table6" ><label><xref ref-type="table" rid="table6">Table 6</xref></label><caption><title> Time-dependent compliance, instantaneous time-dependent (elastic) compliance and Poisson’s ratio for the viscoelastic FM73 polymer ( [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref43">43</xref>] )</title></caption><table><tbody><thead><tr><th align="center" valign="middle" >n<sup>a</sup></th><th align="center" valign="middle" >λ<sub>n</sub> (sec<sup>−1</sup>)</th><th align="center" valign="middle" >D<sub>n</sub> (GPa<sup>−1</sup>)</th></tr></thead><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >1</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.0210</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" >2</td><td align="center" valign="middle" >10<sup>−1</sup></td><td align="center" valign="middle" >0.0216</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="3"  >D<sub>0</sub> = 0.369 (GPa<sup>−1</sup>)</td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="middle"  colspan="3"  >v = 0.35</td></tr></tbody></table></table-wrap><p><sup>a</sup>We only consider the first two terms of the series of exponential functions to the viscoelastic FM73 polymer. This simplification will not affect us to qualitatively understand the influence of the viscoelastic constituent to the overall responses of composites but it will dramatically reduce computational cost.</p><fig id="fig6"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref></label><caption><title> Effective transverse stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x231.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> amplitude vs. number of cyclers for the fully constrained displacement of the PZT-G1195/[PZT-G1195/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-G1195 fiber VF = 0.4 and various PZT-G1195 particle VFs, (a) 0.0 and (b) 0.5, due to a cyclic electric field <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x231.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x232.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with various frequencies f = 0.5, 1 and 10 Hz along the poling direction (Logarithmic scale on the horizontal axis)</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x230.png"/></fig><p>the longitudinal fiber direction (x<sub>3</sub> direction) with the frequency f = 1 Hz. It is expected that the heights of the butterfly curves (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(b), <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(d), <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(f)) of the hybrid piezocomposite decrease as PZT-51 particles increase because PZT-51 fillers increase the overall stiffness of the matrix. In contrast, the polarization responses (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(a), <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(c), <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(e)) are only slightly influenced by the adding the active fillers since the response is dominated by the fibers. At the saturated (steady state) condition, the strains in the butterfly curves at the coercive electric field limit are slightly higher than zero, which are due to the time-dependent PZT-51 and FM73 polymer materials. Even though the hybrid composites are under stress-free boundary conditions, the heterogeneity in the composites leads to existence of internal stresses when electric field is applied. Several discontinuities in the hysteretic polarization and butterfly curves are observed in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(g) and <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>(h), respectively, when PZT-51 particle VF increases to 0.55. These discontinuities occur when the magnitude of compressive stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> in the PZT-51 fiber exceeds the coercive stress limit (<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>= 25 MPa for PZT-51) either from <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x235.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x235.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x236.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> or from <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x235.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x236.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x237.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> back to<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x235.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x236.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x237.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x238.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>. When the compressive stress <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x233.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x234.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x235.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x236.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x237.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x238.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x239.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> in the PZT-51 fiber is greater than the coercive stress limit, polarization switching occurs, whose effect is incorporated in Equations (13) and (14). Changes in the material parameters, when a compressive stress is higher than the coercive stress limit, lead to discontinuities in the electro-mechanical responses. This issue has been discussed in [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.63260-ref35">35</xref>] for homogeneous ferroelectric ceramics.</p><p>Next, we examine the effect of prescribing compressive stresses on the overall nonlinear rate-dependent hysteretic electro-mechanical responses of a PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2, subjected to a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x240.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m along the fiber direction with the frequency f = 1 Hz and constant compressive stresses <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x240.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x241.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> = 0, −15 and −30 MPa. The coercive electric field changes with the compressive stress, which for the studied PZT-51 is described as:</p><disp-formula id="scirp.63260-formula524"><label>(59)</label><graphic position="anchor" xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x242.png"  xlink:type="simple"/></disp-formula><p><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig8">Figure 8</xref> shows the steady state electric displacement and longitudinal strain responses after 100 cycles. The compressive stresses limit the amount of polarization to be generated from electric field inputs, as a result smaller hysteretic polarization and butterfly strain curves are observed when higher compressive stress is applied.</p><p>We also study the effect of frequencies on the overall hysteretic electro-mechanical responses of a hybrid piezocomposite. We consider a stress free PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2 subjected to cyclic electric loadings <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x243.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula></p><fig-group id="fig7"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref></label><caption><title> Effective (a), (c), (e), (g) electric displacement <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x252.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and (b), (d), (f), (h) longitudinal strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x252.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x253.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> responses for the stress free PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with a fixed PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and various PZT-51 particle VFs, (a), (b) 0.0; (c), (d) 0.2; (e), (f) 0.4; (g), (h) 0.55, due to a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x252.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x253.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x254.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with frequency f = 1 Hz along the poling direction. 100 cycles are enough to reach steady state.</title></caption><fig id ="fig7_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x244.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x245.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_3"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x246.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_4"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x247.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_5"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x248.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_6"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x249.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_7"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x250.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig7_8"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x251.png"/></fig></fig-group><fig-group id="fig8"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig8">Figure 8</xref></label><caption><title> Effective (a), (c), (e) electric displacement <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x261.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and (b), (d), (f) longitudinal strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x261.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x262.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> responses for the PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2 subjected to both a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x261.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x262.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x263.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with frequency f = 1 Hz along the poling direction and various constant mechanical stresses<inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x261.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x262.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x263.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x264.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula>, (a), (b) 0; (c), (d) −15; (e), (f) −30 MPa. 100 cycles are enough to reach steady state.</title></caption><fig id ="fig8_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x255.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig8_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x256.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig8_3"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x257.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig8_4"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x258.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig8_5"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x259.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig8_6"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x260.png"/></fig></fig-group><p>along the fiber axis with different frequencies f = 0.5, 1 and 10 Hz. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig9">Figure 9</xref> depicts the responses of the polarization and longitudinal strain for the first six cycles. Lower frequency loading leads to larger hysteretic response since slower loading allows for the materials to experience more pronounced time-dependent response. In this analysis, PZT fibers and particles experiences relaxation-like polarization response while the matrix exhibits viscoelastic deformation. For the higher frequency loading, smaller hysteretic responses are seen and saturated (steady-state) condition is reached after a first few cycle, indicating negligible time-dependent response. For high frequency loading cases, the hysteretic response is mainly due to the irreversible polarization during polarization switching. We then examine the evolution of the amplitude of the effective strain of the butterfly strain response at various cycles. A PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2 under a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x265.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with frequency</p><fig-group id="fig9"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig9">Figure 9</xref></label><caption><title> Effective (a), (c), (e) electric displacement <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x272.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> and (b), (d), (f) longitudinal strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x272.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x273.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> responses for the stress free PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2 subjected to a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x272.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x273.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x274.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with various frequencies f, (a), (b) 0.5; (c), (d) 1; (e), (f) 10 Hz, along the poling direction. First six cycles are plotted.</title></caption><fig id ="fig9_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x266.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig9_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x267.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig9_3"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x268.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig9_4"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x269.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig9_5"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x270.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig9_6"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x271.png"/></fig></fig-group><p>f = 1 Hz along the poling direction is used in the analysis. <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>0 depicts the normalized effective strain amplitude<sup>6</sup> at various cycles. The initial drop in the normalized effective strain amplitude is due to time-dependent polarization effect in the PZT-51 fibers and then the strain amplitude increases at later cycles because of the creep deformation effect in the FM73 polymer constituent. For further explanation, it is seen in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>1(a) that the strain amplitude in the PZT-51 constituent under cyclic electric field decreases before reaching steady state, while the strain amplitude in the FM73 polymermatrix constituent (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>1(b)) under cyclic stress input increases with increasing number of cycles. The different responses in the PZT-51 and FM73 polymer leads to complex hysteretic responses of the hybrid composites and higher number of cycles is required to reach steady state.</p><fig id="fig10"  position="float"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>0</label><caption><title> Normalized effective longitudinal strain <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x279.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> amplitude vs. number of cyclers for the stress free PZT-51/[PZT-51/FM73 polymer] hybrid piezocomposite with PZT-51 fiber VF = 0.4 and PZT-51 particle VF = 0.2 due to a cyclic electric loading <inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x279.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula><inline-formula><inline-graphic xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x280.png" xlink:type="simple"/></inline-formula> MV/m with frequency f = 1 Hz along the poling direction. (Logarithmic scale on the horizontal axis)</title></caption><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x278.png"/></fig><fig-group id="fig11"><label><xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>1</label><caption><title> Normalized strain amplitude vs. number of cyclers. (a) Pure PZT-51 subject to a cyclic electric loading with frequency f = 1 Hz along the poling direction. (b) Pure FM73 polymer subject to a cyclic mechanical loading with frequency f = 1 Hz. (Logarithmic scale on the horizontal axis).</title></caption><fig id ="fig11_1"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x281.png"/></fig><fig id ="fig11_2"><label></label><graphic mimetype="image"   position="float"  xlink:type="simple"  xlink:href="http://html.scirp.org/file/6-7701761x282.png"/></fig></fig-group></sec></sec><sec id="s6"><title>6. Conclusions</title><p>We have developed a hybrid-unit-cell model for predicting the effective nonlinear and rate-dependent hysteretic responses of active hybrid composites. The studied hybrid piezocomposites consist of unidirectional piezoelectric fibers embedded in a polymeric matrix, which is reinforced with piezoelectric particles. Nonlinear electro- mechanical constitutive models, including polarization switching response, are used for the active fibers and particles, while a viscoelastic solid-like model is used for the polymer. In order to predict the effective nonlinear rate-dependent electro-mechanical responses, linearized micromechanical relations are first imposed in order to provide trial solutions at each instant of time. An iterative scheme, i.e., fixed-point method, is then added to minimize errors from linearizing the nonlinear electro-mechanical and time-dependent responses.</p><p>We have performed several analyses on understanding the nonlinear electro-mechanical responses of hybrid piezocomposites using the above hybrid-unit-cell model. The results are summarized as follow: The hybrid unit-cell model is capable of capturing the linear elastic response of fiber-reinforced composites and hybrid composites, which are tested with limited experimental data. Adding PZT fillers significantly improve the blocked stress in the transverse fiber direction while insignificantly affects the overall electro-mechanical performance in the longitudinal fiber direction. This is because the matrix, whose properties change with adding the PZT fillers and dominate the transverse response. The free strains, however, significantly decrease in both transverse and longitudinal fiber directions as the amount of PZT fillers increase. This is due to the fact that adding stiffer PZT particles in a softer epoxy matrix results in a stiffer overall matrix. Thus, adding PZT fillers is useful for improving the blocked stress for active composites with 3 - 1 operating mode. Responses of the hybrid piezocomposites under cyclic electric field, with amplitude higher than the coercive electric field limit of the materials, and compressive stress loadings have been studied. Adding PZT fillers slightly reduces the hysteretic polarization response, and significantly decreases the hysteretic strain response. As the matrix becomes stiffer, matrix would experience smaller deformations when an electric field input is applied, resulting in smaller residual stresses<sup>7</sup> in both fibers and matrix. Although its effect is minimum, the residual stress would affect the overall hysteretic polarization in composites. As also expected compressive stresses applied along the direction of electric field reduce the polarization capability of the composites. We also investigate the effect of frequencies on the overall electro-mechanical responses of hybrid composites. A lower frequency input allows the hybrid piezocomposites to undergo more pronounced time-dependent response, which in this case is shown by broader hysteretic responses. The hysteretic response indicates amount of energy being dissipated, which is converted into heat. It is noted that many applications of active materials would involve cyclic electro-mechan- ical loading, thus the hysteretic response can eventually lead to cyclic failures.</p></sec><sec id="s7"><title>Acknowledgements</title><p>This research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant CMMI-1437086.</p></sec><sec id="s8"><title>Cite this paper</title><p>Chien-HongLin,AnastasiaMuliana, (2016) Nonlinear and Rate-Dependent Hysteretic Responses of Active Hybrid Composites. Materials Sciences and Applications,07,51-72. doi: 10.4236/msa.2016.71006</p></sec><sec id="s9"><title>NOTES</title></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="scirp.63260-ref1"><label>1</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Safari, A. (1994) Development of Piezoelectric Composites for Transducers. Journal de Physique III, 4, 1129-1149.  
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