IMECE2002-39009 MECHANICAL DEFORMATION OF FIELD-COUPLED MATERIALS

ABSTRACT This article describes remarkable similarities in the nonlinear mechanical response of different active/smart materials despite fundamental differences in the underlying mechanisms associated with each material. Active/smart materials (i.e., piezoelectric (PZT-5H), magnetostrictive (Terfenol-D), and shape memory alloys (NiTi)) exhibit strong non-linear mechanical behavior produced by changing nonmechanical internal states such as polarization, magnetization, and phase/twin configuration. In active/smart materials the initial deformation proceeds linearly followed by a jump in strain associated with the transformation of an internal nonmechanical state. After the transformation, the mechanical response returns to linear elastic