Phase switching phenomenon in magnetoelectric laminate polymer composites: Experiments and modeling

This article reports on the magnetoelectric (ME) effect observed in bi- and trilayered polymers consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyurethane (PU) filled with magnetically hard magnetite Fe3O4 or Terfenol-D(TeD) magnetostrictive material. The samples had the following compositions: (PU+2 wt% Fe3O4/PVDF), (PU+2 wt% Fe3O4/PVDF/PU+2 wt% Fe3O4), (PU+50 wt% TeD/PVDF) and (PU+50 wt% TeD/PVDF/PU+50 wt% TeD). A model, based on a driven damped oscillation system, has been developed to evaluate and study the influence of the first and second-order ME coefficients on the dc magnetic field-induced phase switching phenomenon between dynamic ME current and the applied ac magnetic field. A good agreement between the simulated results and experimental data was obtained and it was found that phase switching characteristics are mainly influenced by the ME losses induced by magnetostriction losses. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.