| In multiferroic composites which typically consist of a piezoelectric and a piezomagnetic phase, magnetoelectric coupling is the most intriguing feature of its properties. In such composites, each constituent phase has either the electroelastic or the magnetoelastic coupling, but neither possesses the magnetoelectric coupling. The composite, however, has it. The magnitude of coupling is strongly dependent on the interface condition and the boundary condition. On the mechanical side this issue has been traditionally studied under the strain-prescribed boundary condition. In this paper we examine how magnetoelectric coupling arises under the stress-prescribed boundary condition, and with an imperfect interface. We examine a class of multiferroic composites containing aligned spheroidal inclusions, in which the matrix may be piezoelectric or piezomagnetic, and inclusions piezomagnetic or piezoelectric. We demonstrate how the magnetoelectric coupling coefficients depend on the phase properties, volume concentration, inclusion shape, and interface condition. |
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