Out-of-plane interface cracks in dissimilar piezoelectric materials

This paper investigates the problem of an anti-plane interfacial crack between two dissimilar piezoelectric material layers. A single crack is first considered. The effect of interaction of two collinear cracks in the medium on the field intensity factors is investigated. The solutions of several particular cases, including an infinite piezoelectric bi-material and a piezoelectric material bonded to an elastic medium, are given. The bi-material constants governing the behavior of the crack tip fields are identified. By considering the crack as a notch of finite thickness, it is shown that the thickness of the notch has a pronounced influence on the crack tip field. The results for the assumption of a permeable crack represent the limit case where the notch thickness is reduced to zero.