This paper is concerned with the propagation of a crack along the interface of a piezoelectric bimaterial, which can travel at subsonic or intersonic speed. The inertial effects are taken into account while the static approximation is applied to the electric fields. The effect of piezoelectricity on the asymptotic crack-tip field is discussed for an interface crack propagating subsonically and intersonically. An alternative method is used to avoid solving for the eigenvectors. This paper provides a unified method to analyze the crack-tip field of a crack propagating along a piezoelectric bimaterial interface.

This paper provides a unified method to solve the problem of an interfacial crack propagating subsonically and intersonically along a general anisotropic bimaterial interface. The asymptotic structure of the interfacial crack-tip field propagating subsonically and intersonically in a general anisotropic bimaterial system is investigated. Using the extended version of the Eshelby–Stroh formulation and the method of analytic continuation, the problem is recast into a Riemann–Hilbert problem of vector form. Upon solving the Riemann-Hilbert equation, the near-tip asymptotic fields are obtained, which reveals characteristics of the intersonic crack growth in an anisotropic bimaterial system. Some important cases are listed. The procedure presented in this paper will provide a theoretical tool for studying intersonic crack growth in a broader range of materials systems. The range of the powers of the crack-tip singularity is reported for four different material combinations.

This paper focuses on the theoretical basis for the study of wave scattering from an interface crack in multilayered piezoelectric media. The materials are taken to be anisotropic with arbitrary symmetry. Based on the Fourier transform technique together with the aid of the stiffness matrix approach, the boundary value problem of wave scattering is reduced to solving a system of Cauchy-type singular equations. The intensity factors and crack opening displacements are defined in terms of the solutions of the corresponding integral equations for any incident frequencies and incident angles. Numerical results are presented. The effects of incident frequencies and crack location on both the major and coupling intensity factors are illustrated. The influence of the piezoelectricity is also shown.

In this paper, the concept of energy density factor S for piezoelectric materials is presented. In addition to the mechanical energy the electrical energy is included as well. The direction of crack initiation is assumed to occur when Smin reaches a critical value Scr that can be used as an intrinsic materials parameter and is independent of the crack geometry and loading. The result agrees with empirical evidence qualitatively and explains rationally the effect of applied electric field on fracture strength: positive electric fields decrease the apparent fracture toughness of piezoelectric materials while negative electric fields increase it.

This work is concerned with the analytical characterization of the electromechanical nonlinear effects on the fields surrounding the tip of an interface crack between ferroelectric-plastic bimaterials. A strip electric saturation and mechanical yielding model is developed for a mode III interfacial crack with electrical polarization reaching a saturation limit and shear stress reaching a yield stress along a line segment in front of the crack. The electrical saturation zone and mechanical yielding zone may have dierent length scales depending on loading conditions. This model may be considered as a generalization of the classical Dugdale model for plastic yielding near cracks in homogenous materials. The results reveal insight into the structure of stress and electric displacement fields for different load conditions. The energy release rate and COD dIII are also obtained, which indicates the possibility of fracture criterion based on the COD dIII.