Effect of initial stress on the propagation behavior of Love waves in a layered piezoelectric structure

The propagation behavior of Love waves in a layered piezoelectric structure with an initial stress is investigated in this article. It involves a thin piezoelectric layer bonded perfectly to an elastic substrate. Solutions of the mechanical displacement and electrical potential function are obtained for the piezoelectric layer and elastic substrate by solving the coupled electromechanical field equations. The phase velocity equations of the Love wave propagation and the stress fields in the layered piezoelectric structure are obtained for electrical open and short cases on the free surface, respectively. The effect of the initial stress on the phase velocity, the stress fields and the coupled electromechanical factor are discussed, respectively. Three sets of piezoelectric layer-elastic substrate systems are considered, i.e. BaTiO3 ceramic layer-borosilicate glass substrate, PZT-SH ceramic layer-borosilicate glass substrate, and PZT-SH ceramic layer-SiO2 glass substrate. It is seen that the phase velocity of the Love wave propagation decreases with the increase of the magnitude of the initial stress. The coupled electromechanical factor increases remarkably, as the magnitude of the initial the stress is greater than 100 MPa. This is useful for the design of acoustic surface wave devices. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.