Thermally induced cracking of piezoelectric materials

Mechanical, electrical, and thermal fields are coupled in most of the physical problems. Thermal effects could be important when structures containing piezoelectric materials need to operate at high or low temperature environments. Such environments are quite possible in the applications of smart materials and structures. An area where piezoelectric materials may provide dramatic advantages is in the development of piezoelectric composite structures with the capability to sensor thermally induced distortions and to actively compensate for adverse thermo-mechanical conditions. Typical applications of such structures are envisioned in the thermal distortion management of propulsion components and/or space structures. The analysis of the thermal fracture process of piezoelectric materials could provide information to improve the design of piezoelectric devices operated in thermal environments. Thermoelastic behavior of piezoelectric solids without defects has been studied by many researchers [e.g. 1-9].