Micromechanics of longitudinal mechanical properties for active fiber composites with embedded metal-core piezoelectric fibers

An analytical micromechanics approach is presented to model the effective longitudinal mechanical properties of Metal-Core Piezoelectric Fibers (MPF). The model assumes general orthotropic material properties for the piezoelectric as well as the core material. Next, the general orthotropic solution is reduced to transversely isotropic for the piezoelectric fiber and isotropic for the metal-core. This MPF system is also modeled using finite element analysis (FEA) and the results from the analytical solution and FEA are compared for verification purpose. Next, the Metal-Core Piezoelectric Fiber (MPF) is embedded inside a metal or a polymer and the resulting longitudinal mechanical properties of these Active Fiber Composite (AFC) systems are given analytically.