Electro-Mechanical Behavior of Functionally Graded Materials
Summary
The electro-mechanical behaviour of functionally graded materials (FGMs) encompasses the coupled interaction of mechanical, electrical and magnetic fields in composites whose constituent properties vary continuously through their volume. By grading stiffness, permittivity and piezoelectric or piezomagnetic coefficients, FGMs reduce stress concentrations and enable tailored field distributions. Analytical and numerical models link mechanical equilibrium equations with Maxwell’s equations under spatially varying constitutive laws, capturing bending, shear, stretching and thickness-stretching effects. Applications span piezoelectric sensors and actuators, energy harvesters, adaptive aerospace panels and biomedical implants, where graded architectures optimise deflection profiles, control vibration or wave propagation and localise electric or magnetic potentials. Advances in nano-reinforcements such as graphene origami and carbon nanotubes, combined with refined deformation theories, have enhanced multi-field coupling and enriched design freedom at micro- and nano-scales.
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Electro-Mechanical Behavior of Functionally Graded Materials publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in electro-mechanical behavior of functionally graded materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Functionally graded material (FGM): A composite whose mechanical, electrical or magnetic properties vary continuously in space according to a designed profile.
Piezoelectric effect: Generation of electric charge in certain materials when subjected to mechanical stress.
Piezomagnetic effect: Induction of magnetic polarization in materials upon mechanical deformation.
Halpin-Tsai micromechanical model: A semi-empirical method for estimating effective composite properties based on constituent phases and their volume fractions.
Higher-order shear deformation theory: A plate or shell theory that accounts for transverse shear deformation and normal stretching without invoking shear correction factors.
References
- Analysis of sandwich graphene origami composite plate sandwiched by piezoelectric/piezomagnetic layers: A higher-order electro-magneto-elastic analysis. Heliyon (2024).
- A complete set of equations for piezo-magnetoelastic analysis of a functionally graded thick shell of revolution. Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures (2014).
- Static bending analysis of pressurized cylindrical shell made of graphene origami auxetic metamaterials based on higher-order shear deformation theory. Heliyon (2024).
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