Wave Propagation in Piezoelectric and Magneto-Electro-Elastic Structures
Summary
Wave propagation in piezoelectric and magneto-electro-elastic structures encompasses the interplay of mechanical, electrical and magnetic fields in solid media. In piezoelectric materials, mechanical deformation induces an electric potential, and vice versa, enabling controlled generation and sensing of acoustic waves. Magneto-electro-elastic media extend this coupling by incorporating magnetic field interactions, thus offering richer control over wave characteristics. Guided and surface acoustic waves—such as Love and Rayleigh modes—exhibit dispersion that depends on material anisotropy, layer geometry and field boundary conditions. Advances in modelling have yielded closed‐form dispersion relations, facilitating optimisation of sensors, actuators and energy-harvesting devices. At the nanoscale, flexoelectric and micro-inertia effects further modify phase velocity and attenuation, opening avenues for ultrasensitive devices and miniaturised signal processors.
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Wave Propagation in Piezoelectric and Magneto-Electro-Elastic Structures publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in wave propagation in piezoelectric and magneto-electro-elastic structures across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Piezoelectricity: The property by which certain crystalline materials generate electric charge under mechanical stress and conversely deform under an applied electric field.
Magneto-electro-elasticity: The coupling of mechanical, electric and magnetic fields within a single medium, enabling simultaneous control of acoustic, electric and magnetic responses.
Love waves: A class of guided shear horizontal surface waves confined within a layered structure, characterised by transverse particle motion parallel to the surface.
Rayleigh waves: Surface acoustic waves with elliptical particle motion that decay exponentially with depth and are sensitive to near-surface properties.
Dispersion relation: A mathematical equation relating wave frequency to wavenumber, reflecting how phase velocity and attenuation vary with frequency and structure.
Flexoelectricity: The generation of electric polarization in a dielectric material due to a strain gradient, significant at micro- to nano-scales.
Micro-inertia: An additional inertia term arising in strain-gradient theories, accounting for size-dependent inertial effects on wave propagation.
References
- The Effect of Micro-Inertia and Flexoelectricity on Love Wave Propagation in Layered Piezoelectric Structures. Nanomaterials (2021).
- Complex Rayleigh Waves in Nonhomogeneous Magneto-Electro-Elastic Half-Spaces. Materials (2021).
- Shear Horizontal Surface Waves in a Layered Piezoelectric Nanostructure with Surface Effects. Micromachines (2022).
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