Acta Mech 223, 1999–2009 (2012)

DOI 10.1007/s00707-012-0680-6

Guoquan Nie · Jinxi Liu · Xueqian Fang · Zijun An

Shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating

in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic bilayer system
with an imperfect interface

Received: 21 November 2011 / Revised: 28 February 2012 / Published online: 22 June 2012
© Springer-Verlag 2012

Abstract This work considers the propagation of shear horizontal (SH) waves in a bilayer system consisting
of a piezoelectric (PE) layer and a piezomagnetic (PM) substrate. The interface between the PE layer and
the PM substrate is imperfectly bonded. The surfaces of the bilayer system are free of traction, electrically
shorted or open and magnetically open or shorted. The exact dispersion equations are derived. The numerical
examples are given to illustrate the effects of the electromagnetic boundary conditions, the imperfect interface,
the different PE layers and the thickness ratio on the dispersion behaviors. It is found that (a) the electrical
boundary conditions dominate the propagation characteristics of SH waves; (b) the imperfect bonding lowers
the phase velocities; (c) the thickness ratio and the properties of PE layers have a significant effect on the dis-
persion behaviors. The obtained results provide a predictable and theoretical basis for applications of PE–PM
composites to acoustic wave devices.

1 Introduction

PE–PM composites or structures can achieve the conversion between electrical energy and magnetic energy,
namely they possess a macroscopically magnetoelectric coupling effect. Such a novel feature makes PE–PM
composites potential candidates for magnetic sensors, transducers, resonators, electric-field-tunable filters,
phase shifters and delay lines, etc. [1,2]. These applications are related to the knowledge of elastic wave prop-
agation. Due to this reason, the propagation behavior of elastic waves in PE–PM composites or structures has
attracted increasing attention in recent years.
PE–PM composites are also called magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) materials due to the coupled effects
between mechanical, electrical and magnetic fields [3]. Soh and Liu [4] investigated SH waves propagating
along the interface of a bi-material consisting of a PE half-space and a PM half-space. Melkumyan [5] con-
sidered the possibility of SH waves guided by an interface between two identical transversely isotropic MEE
half-spaces under 25 sets of magnetoelectric interfacial conditions and showed that 12 sets of the interface
conditions support the propagation of SH waves. Wang et al. [6] found that a new SH surface wave can exist
in a semi-infinite transversely isotropic MEE space open to the vacuum. For the same space, Wei et al. [7]
indicated that three other kinds of magnetoelectric boundary conditions also allow the propagation of SH
surface waves. Based on the fully coupled constitutive relations, Du et al. [8] studied Love waves in a layered
MEE half-space with or without [9] initial stress, respectively, where the surface of the mechanically free layer

G. Nie · J. Liu (B) · X. Fang

Department of Engineering Mechanics, Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, Shijiazhuang 050043, China
E-mail: liujx02@hotmail.com
Tel.: +86-311-87936682
Fax: +86-311-87936066

Z. An
College of Mechanical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China
2000 G. Nie et al.

is open to the vacuum or electrically shorted and magnetically open. As numerical examples, they illustrated
the influences of initial stress, electromagnetic boundary conditions and PM effect on the phase velocity, group
velocity and MEE fields of Love waves in the CoFe2 O4 /BaTiO3 layered half-space. Liu et al. examined Love
waves in the structure of a PM layer bonded to a PE half-space structure or the reverse configuration [10].
They analyzed the effect of the properties of PE and PM materials on the dispersion characteristics. Calas
et al. [11] and Liu et al. [12] investigated the dispersion relations of SH waves in a MEE layer between two
different MEE half-space and in PE–PM periodically layered media, respectively. Wu et al. [13] explored the
dispersion characteristics of the Lamb wave propagating in MEE plates for electrically and magnetically open
and shorted conditions. Chen et al. [14] presented an analytical treatment for the plane guided waves in MEE
multilayered plates and showed the effect of different stacking sequences on the dispersive behaviors and
mode shapes. Using the Legendre orthogonal polynomial series expansion approach, Yu and Wu [15] studied
the propagation of harmonic waves in MEE functionally graded cylindrical curved plates. Feng et al. [16] and
Hu et al. [17] examined the existence of interfacial (Stoneley) waves between two transversely isotropic MEE
half-spaces and in anisotropic MEE bi-materials with a viscous interface, respectively.
In the aforementioned works about layered structures or bi-material spaces, the perfect bonding condi-
tion is adopted along the interfaces. In practice, imperfect bonding sometimes exists in composite materials
or devices due to various causes such as microdefect, porosity, the aging of the glue which is applied at an
interface, and corrosion of the materials and so on [18,19]. In general, the interfacial properties greatly affect
the performances of layered composites or structures. Therefore, it is of substantial significance to analyze the
influences of interfacial bonding properties on wave propagation. The wave propagation problems in purely
elastic layered media with imperfect interfaces have extensively been studied (see Ref. [20] and references
therein). For PE- or MEE-layered materials, work on this topic is rather limited. Fan et al. [21] derived the
closed dispersion equation of SH interracial waves in transversely isotropic PE bi-materials with an imperfect
bonded interface. Huang and Li [22] revealed the effect of an imperfect bonding on the propagation behaviors
of SH interfacial waves in dissimilar PE cubic crystals. SH waves guided by an imperfect interface in PE–PM
bi-materials [23,24] and a MEE bi-material [20] have been studied, respectively. Their results show that the
interface imperfection gives rise to dispersion of SH waves, which is basically different from the case of per-
fect bonding. More recently, using the reverberation-ray matrix method, Zhu et al. [25] solved the propagation
problem of plane waves in multilayered MEE plate with imperfect interfaces and numerically indicated the
influence of interfacial imperfection on the dispersion characteristics and corresponding mode shapes for three
layer structures consisting of PE and PM layers.
In the present work, we investigate the SH waves propagating in a PE–PM bilayer system with an imper-
fectly bonded interface. The interface imperfection is described by the linear spring model. The dispersion
equations of SH waves are obtained in closed form for four kinds of different electromagnetic boundary
conditions at the surfaces of the bilayer system. In order to reveal the conjunct influences of the interface
imperfection, electromagnetic boundary conditions, thickness ratio and material properties of a PE layer on
the propagation characteristics, the dispersion curves are plotted and discussed in detail.

2 Formulation of the problem

2.1 Basic equations

Consider a PE–PM bilayer system as shown in Fig. 1. The PE layer and the PM substrate are imperfectly
bonded to each other along the interface, and their thicknesses are d e and d m , respectively. Both the layer and
the substrate are hexagonal (6 mm) crystals whose isotropic plane is the x1 −x2 plane.
For a SH wave propagating in the x1−x2 plane, the anti-plane elastic field and the in-plane electromagnetic
fields are coupled. The constitutive equations of the PE and PM materials can be expressed as follows [4]:
∂u m ∂ψ m ∂ϕ m ∂u m ∂ψ m
σ3β
m
= c44
m 3
+ h 15 , Dβm = − ∈m
11 , Bβm = h 15 3
− μm
11 (1)
∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ
for a PM material and
∂u e3 ∂ϕ e ∂u e3 ∂ϕ e ∂ψ e
σ3β
e
= c44
e
+ e15 , Dβe = e15 − ∈e11 , Bβe = −μe11 (2)
∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ ∂ xβ
for a PE material, where β = 1, 2. In Eqs. (1) and (2), u 3 and σ3β are the components of displacement and
stress, Dβ and ϕ are the electric displacement and electric potential, Bβ and ψ are the magnetic flux density and
Shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic bilayer system 2001

PE layer de

o
PM substrate x1
dm

x2

Fig. 1 Geometry of a PE–PM bilayer system

magnetic potential, c44 , e15 , and h 15 are the elastic, piezoelectric and piezomagnetic constants, ∈11 and μ11
are the dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability, respectively. The superscripts “e” and “m” denote
quantities of PE and PM materials, respectively.
In the usual quasi-static electromagnetic approximation, the governing equations for u 3 , ϕ and Ψ are given
by

∂ 2 u e3
e
c44 ∇ 2 u e3 + e15 ∇ 2 ϕ e = ρ e , e15 ∇ 2 u e3 − ∈e11 ∇ 2 ϕ e = 0, ∇ 2ψ e = 0 (3)
∂t 2
and
∂ 2um
∇ u 3 + h 15 ∇ 2 ψ m = ρ m
m 2 m
c44 3
, ∇ 2 ϕ m = 0, h 15 ∇ 2 u m
3 − μ11 ∇ ψ = 0,
m 2 m
(4)
∂t 2
where ∇ 2 = ∂ 2 /x12 + ∂ 2 /x22 , t is the time, and ρ is the mass density.

2.2 Interfacial and boundary conditions

We adopt the spring model presented by Rokhlin and Wang [26] to characterize the interface imperfection. In
this model, the stresses are continuous, but the mechanical displacements jump at the interface, that is,
 
σ32
e
(x1 , 0) = σ32
m
(x1 , 0) = α u e3 (x1 , 0) − u m
3 (x 1 , 0) , (5)

where α is an elastic or spring constant that reflects the interface property. α → ∞ corresponds to a perfectly
bonded interface, while α → 0 corresponds to a slip interface. Since the layer and the substrate can be in
perfect contact for the current problem, the electric and magnetic fields should be continuous at the interface.
Accordingly, we have

ϕ e (x1 , 0) = ϕ m (x1 , 0) , ψ e (x1 , 0) = ψ m (x1 , 0) ,

(6)
D2e (x1 , 0) = D2m (x1 , 0) , B2e (x1 , 0) = B2m (x1 , 0) .

The upper and lower surfaces of the bilayer system are mechanically free, electrically shorted or open and
magnetically shorted or open. The physical meanings of these boundary conditions have been described in
detail by Alshits et al. [27]. Different combinations of electric and magnetic conditions constitute four sets of
different electromagnetic boundary conditions as follows:
A. Mechanically free, electrically shorted and magnetically open surfaces (denoted by “so” case)

σ32
e
(x1 , −d e ) = σ32
m
(x1 , d m ) = 0,
(7)
ϕ e (x1 , −d e ) = ϕ m (x1 , d m ) = ψ e (x1 , −d e ) = ψ m (x1 , d m ) = 0;

B. Mechanically free, electrically shorted and magnetically shorted surfaces (denoted by “ss” case)

σ32
e
(x1 , −d e ) = σ32
m
(x1 , d m ) = 0,
(8)
ϕ e (x1 , −d e ) = ϕ m (x1 , d m ) = B2e (x1 , −d e ) = B2m (x1 , d m ) = 0;

C. Mechanically free, electrically open and magnetically open surfaces (denoted by “oo” case)
2002 G. Nie et al.

σ32
e
(x1 , −d e ) = σ32
m
(x1 , d m ) = 0,
D2e (x1 , −d e ) = D2m (x1 , d m ) = ψ e (x1 , −d e ) = ψ m (x1 , d m ) = 0;
D. Mechanically free, electrically open and magnetically shorted surfaces (denoted by “os” case)
σ32
e
(x1 , −d e ) = σ32
m
(x1 , d m ) = 0,
(9)
D2e (x1 , −d e ) = D2m (x1 , d m ) = B2e (x1 , −d e ) = B2m (x1 , d m ) = 0.

3 Formal solutions of the problem and dispersion relations

For the SH wave propagating in the x1 -direction, we seek the following solutions of Eqs. (4) and (3):
⎧ J ⎫ ⎧ ⎫
⎨ u 3 (x1 , x2 , t) ⎬ ⎨ U3J (x2 ) ⎬
ϕ J (x , x , t) = Φ J (x2 ) eik(x1 −ct) , J = e, m, (10)
⎩ J 1 2 ⎭ ⎩ J ⎭
ψ (x1 , x2 , t) Ψ (x2 )
where k is the wave number, c is the phase velocity, U3J (x2 ), Φ J (x2 ) and Ψ J (x2 ) are undetermined functions.
Substituting Eq. (10) into Eqs. (3) and (4), respectively, one can obtain
d2 U3e
 e 2 e
− k 2
1 − c/csh U3 = 0,
dx22  
d2 Φ e e15 d2 U3e
−k Φ = e
2 e
− k U3 ,
2 e
(11)
dx22 ∈11 dx22
d2 Ψ e
− k 2 Ψ e = 0,
dx22
and
d2 U3m
 m 2 m
− k 2 (1 − c/csh U3 = 0,
dx22
d2 Φ m
− k 2 Φ m = 0, (12)
dx22  
d2 Ψ m h 15 d2 U3m
−k Ψ = m
2 m
− k U3 .
2 m
dx22 μ11 dx22
e =
 e  m
where csh c̄44 /ρ e and csh m = c̄44 /ρ m are the bulk shear wave velocities of PE and PM media, respec-
tively; c̄44 = c44 + e15 / ∈11 and c̄44 = c44
e e 2 e m m + h 2 /μm are the stiffened elastic constants with the PE and PM
15 11
effects, respectively.
According to the argument given by Wang and Varadan [28] for the PE layer-elastic substrate structure,
we confine ourselves to two cases: one being that c < csh e < cm and another being that ce < c < cm . This is
sh sh sh
because when c > csh , such waves would represent refracted waves carrying energy away from the PE layer
m
and would quickly disappear. Equations (11) and (12) are two sets of ordinary differential equations and easily
solved. After obtaining the solutions of Eqs. (11) and (12) then using Eq. (10), the mechanical displacements,
electric potentials and magnetic potentials can be written as
  ik(x −ct)
3 (x 1 , x 2 , t) = A1 cosh (kλ x 2 ) + A2 sinh (kλ x 2 ) e
um ,
m m 1

ϕ m (x1 , x2 , t) = [A3 cosh (kx2 ) + A4 sinh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) , (13)

 
ψm (x1 , x2 , t) = [A5 cosh (kx2 ) + A6 sinh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct)+ h 15 /μm
11 (x1 , x2 , t),
um
3
 
A7 cos (kλe x2 ) + A8 sin (kλe x2 ) eik(x1 −ct) when csh e < c < cm ,
sh
u 3 (x1 , x2 , t) =
e  
A7 cosh (kλe x2 ) + A8 sinh (kλe x2 ) eik(x1 −ct) when c < csh e < cm ,
sh
  (14)
ϕ e (x1 , x2 , t) = [A9 cosh (kx2 ) + A10 sinh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) + e15 / ∈e11 u e3 (x1 , x2 , t) ,
ψ e (x1 , x2 , t) = [A11 cosh (kx2 ) + A12 sinh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) ,
 
 m 2 e   e 2 
where λ = 1 − c/csh , λ = 1 − c/csh
m
, and Ai (i = 1 to 12) are the constants to be determined.
Shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic bilayer system 2003

Substituting Eqs. (13) and (14) into Eqs. (1) and (2), respectively, we obtain the components of the stresses,
electrical displacements and magnetic inductions associated with the interface and boundary conditions as
follows:
   
σ32
m = k c̄m λm A sinh
44 1 (kλm x2 ) + A2 cosh (kλm x2 ) + h 15 [A5 sinh (kx2 ) + A6 cosh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) ,
D2m = −k ∈m ik(x1 −ct) ,
11 [A3 sinh (kx 2 ) + A4 cosh (kx 2 )] e (15)
= −kμm ik(x1 −ct) ,
B2m 11 [A5 sinh (kx 2 ) + A6 cosh (kx 2 )] e
⎧ e e 
⎪
⎪ c̄44 λ −A 7 sin (kλ e x ) + A cos (kλe x ) ,
2 8 2
⎪
⎪
⎨ +e15 [A9 sinh (kx2 ) + A10 cosh (kx2 )] , e < c < cm ,
when csh
e = keik(x1 −ct)
σ32
sh
 
⎪
⎪ c̄44 λ A7 sinh (kλ x2 ) + A8 cosh (kλ x2 ) ,
e e e e
⎪
⎪ (16)
⎩ +e15 [A9 sinh (kx2 ) + A10 cosh (kx2 )] , when c < csh
e < cm ,
sh
D2e = −k ∈e11 [A9 sinh (kx2 ) + A10 cosh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) ,
B2e = −kμe11 [A11 sinh (kx2 ) + A12 cosh (kx2 )] eik(x1 −ct) .
Applying the interface condition in Eq. (5) and any one of the four different boundary conditions in
Eqs. (6)–(9) to the above solution, one can obtain a system of linear homogeneous equations for Ai (i = 1 to
12) as
KA = 0, (17)
where K is the 12 × 12 matrix. For the sake of brevity, only the non-zero components of K for the “so” case
is given in the Appendix. For a non-trivial solution of A, the determinant of K must vanish, that is,
det (K) = 0. (18)
This equation gives the relation obeyed by the phase velocity c and the wave number k. it is known as the
dispersion relation or dispersion equation. For a given wave number k, the corresponding phase velocity c can
be determined numerically.

4 Numerical examples and discussions

In order to examine the influences of the electromagnetic boundary conditions, interface imperfection, thick-
ness ratio and the properties of PE layers on dispersion characteristics, some numerical results are presented
based on the derived formulations in the above section. In our calculation, The PM layer is chosen as CoFe2 O4 ,
while the PE layers are PZT-5A, PZT-6B, PZT-7A, PZT-7 and PZT-4, respectively. Their properties are listed
in Table 1 [10,29]. For the convenience of the following discussions, the bulk shear wave velocities of these
materials and the B-G surface wave velocities of the PE materials with electrically shorted surface are also
listed. The B-G surface wave velocity of a PE material can be calculated by [30]


4 / ∈e ce + e2 2 .

c B = csh 1 − e15
e e
11 44 15 (19)

Table 1 Material properties used in numerical examples

CoFe2 O4 PZT-5A PZT-6B PZT-7A PZT-7 PZT-4

c44(109 N/m2 ) 45.3 21.1 35.5 25.3 25 25.6
∈11 (10−9 C2 /N m2 ) 0.08 8.11 3.6 4.07 17.1 6.46
μ11 (10−6 N s2 /C2 ) 157 5 5 5 5 5
e15 (C/m2 ) – 12.3 4.6 9.2 13.5 12.7
h 15 (N/A m) 550 – – – – –
ρ(103 kg/m3 ) 5.3 7.75 7.55 7.6 7.8 7.5
csh (m/s) 2985.1 2264.9 2341 2462.8 2138.1 2596.6
C B (m/s) – 2000 2317.3 2197.9 2040.4 2258
2004 G. Nie et al.

1st mode
so
3.0
ss
oo
2.8 os
2nd mode

c/(km/s)
2.6 so
ss
2.4 oo
os
e
2.2 csh=2264.9

e
2.0 cB=2000

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6

e
kd /2π
Fig. 2 Dispersion curves of the first two modes for the PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer under different electro-magnetic boundary
conditions when f = 0.1

3.0
r =0
r =1
r =10
r =100
2.5
r =1000
c/(km/s)

2.0
e
cB=2000

1.5
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
e
kd /2π
(a)

3.0

r =0
2.8 r =1
r =10
c/(km/s)

r =100
2.6 r =1000

2.4
e
csh=2264.9
2.2
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
e
kd /2π
(b)
Fig. 3 Effect of the interfacial imperfection on the dispersion curves of the first two modes for the PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer
subjected to the electrically and magnetically shorted boundary condition (“ss” case) when f = 0.1. a First mode, b second
mode

We first analyze the propagation behaviors of SH waves in the perfectly bonded PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer
under four different electromagnetic boundary conditions. The dispersion curves of the first two modes are
plotted in Fig. 2, where the thickness ration f = d e /d m is taken as 0.1 and K = kd e /(2π) is the non-dimen-
sional wave number. From Fig. 2, it can be observed that the phase velocities of the first mode for the “so”
Shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic bilayer system 2005

3.0

r =0
r =1
2.8
r =10
r =100

c/(km/s)
2.6 r =1000

2.4

e
csh =2264.9
2.2
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
e
kd /2π
(a)
3.0

r =0
2.8 r =1
r =10
c/(km/s)

r =100
2.6 r =1000

2.4
e
csh=2264.9
2.2
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
e
kd /2π
(b)
Fig. 4 Effect of the interfacial imperfection on the dispersion curves of the first two modes for the PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer
subjected to the electrically open and magnetically shorted boundary condition (“os” case) when f = 0.1. a First mode, b second
mode

and “ss” cases are equal except when K is very small. A similar feature can also be seen for the “oo” and “os”
cases. In addition, the phase velocities of the first mode for the “so” and “ss” cases approach the velocity of
the B-G surface wave of PZT-5A with the increase of wave number. However, for “oo” and “os” cases, the
phase velocities of the first mode tend to the bulk shear wave velocity of PZT-5A. For the second mode, the
difference of the magnetic boundary conditions has no effect on the phase velocities. One can also observe
that the velocities for the electrically open case are larger than those for the electrically shorted case. The
reason resulting in such a difference is that compared with the electrically open surface, the electrode (shorted)
surface reduces the rigidity of PE–PM structures. The above-mentioned results show that the electric boundary
conditions dominate the dispersion characteristics of the SH waves and the effect of the magnetic boundary
conditions cannot be considered.
Next, we examine the effect of the interfacial property on the dispersion characteristics. The dimensionless
parameter r = c̄44 e /αd e is introduced to characterize the degree of the interface imperfection. r = 0 and
r → ∞ correspond to the two limiting cases, respectively. The former denotes a perfectly bonded interface,
and the latter stands for a slip interface. Figures 3 and 4 give the dispersion curves of the first two modes for
PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer under the “ss” and “os” boundary conditions when r = 0, 1, 10, 100, 1,000 and
f = 0.1. From these figures, one can find that (a) the imperfect interface lowers the propagation velocities
of the SH waves; (b) the effect of the imperfection on the phase velocities of the first mode is stronger than
those of the second mode; (c) the phase velocity may be smaller than B-G wave velocity of PZT-5A for the
electrically shorted condition when r is larger than the certain value; (4) For the case when the surfaces of the
bilayer are electrically open, the phase velocity monotonously decreases and is never smaller than the bulk
shear wave velocity of PZT-5A.
In order to check the influence of the thickness ratio on the propagation behaviors, the dispersion curves
of the first mode for the PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer for different values of the thickness ratio are presented in
2006 G. Nie et al.

3.0

2.8 f =0.01
f =0.1
2.6 f =0.2

c/(km/s)
f =0.5
2.4

2.2

2.0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
e
kd /2π
(a)

3.0

2.8
f =0.01
2.6 f =0.1
f =0.2
c/(km/s)

2.4
f =0.5
2.2

2.0

1.8

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

e
kd /2π
(b)
3.0

2.8

2.6
f =0.01
f =0.1
2.4 f =0.2
c/(km/s)

2.2
f =0.5

2.0

1.8

1.6
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10
e
kd /2π
(c)
Fig. 5 Effect of the thickness ratio on the dispersion curves of the first mode for the PZT-5A/CoFe2 O4 bilayer subjected to the
electrically and magnetically shorted boundary condition (“ss” case): a r = 0, b r = 10, c r = 100

Fig. 5 when r = 0, 10, 100, respectively. Only the electrically shorted and magnetically shorted boundary
condition (“ss” case) are considered. It is clear that there is an obvious discrepancy at the dispersion curves.
It is found that the smaller the thickness ratio, the larger the phase velocity of the SH wave propagating in the
bilayer at small wave number. The effect of the thickness ratio on the phase velocity becomes weak, as the
Shear horizontal (SH) waves propagating in piezoelectric–piezomagnetic bilayer system 2007

3.0
PZT-5A/CoFe2O4
2.8 PZT-6B/CoFe2O4
PZT-7A/CoFe2O4
2.6 PZT-7/CoFe2O4
PZT-4/CoFe2O4

c/(km/s)
2.4

2.2

2.0

1.8

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

e
kd /2π
(a)

PZT-5A/CoFe2O4
3.0 PZT-6B/CoFe2O4
PZT-7A/CoFe2O4
2.8 PZT-7/CoFe2O4
PZT-4/CoFe2O4
2.6
c/(km/s)

2.4

2.2

2.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
e
kd /2π
(b)
Fig. 6 Dispersion curves of the first modes for different piezoelectric layers at f = 0.1 and r = 10: a “ss” case, b “os” case

imperfect degree of the interface bonding increases, and gradually disappears with the increase of the wave
number.
We anticipate that the material property of a PE layer would affect the phase velocity. To reach this objec-
tive, five different types of PE layers, namely PZT-5A, PZT-6B, PZT-7A, PZT-7 and PZT-4, are considered.
The PM substrate is still CoFe2 O4 , and Fig. 6 provides the dispersion curves of the first modes under the
“ss” and “os” cases, where f = 0.1, r = 10. It is can be observed from Fig. 6 that the phase velocities obey
the following relations, namely, cPZT−6B > cPZT−4 > cPZT−7A > cPZT−7 > cPZT−5A for the “ss” case and
cPZT−4 > cPZT−7A > cPZT−6B > cPZT−5A > cPZT−7 for the “os” case. Noting that the values of csh and c B of
the PE materials given in Table 1, we can conclude that for the “ss” case, the larger the B-G wave velocity of
a PE layer is, the larger the phase velocity of SH wave is. However, for the “os” case, the larger the bulk shear
wave velocity of a PE layer is, the larger the phase velocity of SH wave is.

5 Concluding remarks

In this paper, we present a theoretical research on the propagation of SH waves in a PE–PM bilayer structure
with an imperfectly bonded interface. From the numerical results obtained, the following conclusions can be
drawn. (a) The propagation characteristics of SH waves are controlled by the electrical boundary conditions
at the surfaces. The influence of the magnetical boundary conditions can be neglected. (b) The imperfect
2008 G. Nie et al.

interface reduces the phase velocity. This is because the imperfection of the interface lowers the rigidity of
the bilayer system. (c) The effect of the thickness ratio on the phase velocity is quite obvious in a smaller
wave number. (d) The material property of a PE layer plays an important role in the dispersion behavior of SH
waves in the considered bilayer. The phase velocity of the first mode under the electrically shorted boundary
condition depends on the B-G surface velocity of a PE layer. When the surfaces of the bilayer system are
electrically open, the phase velocity of the first mode is dominated by the bulk shear velocity of a PE layer.
These conclusions mean that one can obtain the desired propagation behavior through the selections of PE
materials, electrical boundary conditions and thickness ratio. Moreover, it is useful for designing experiments
to measure interface properties.

Acknowledgments This work is supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 10972147) and the Program
for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (No. IRT0971). The authors are grateful to the anonymous
reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

Appendix
e < c < cm
Non-zero components of the matrix K for the case csh sh
     
k1,1 = c̄44
e e
λ sin kλe d m f , k1,2 = c̄44 λ cos kλe d m f , k1,3 = −e15 sinh kd m f ,
e e
         
k1,4 = e15 cosh kd m f , k2,1 = e15 / ∈e11 cos kλe d m f , k2,2 = − e15 / ∈e11 sin kλe d m f ,
       
k2,3 = cosh kd m f , k2,4 = − sinh kd m f , k3,5 = cosh kd m f , k3,6 = − sinh kd m f ,
     
k4,7 = c̄44
m m
λ sinh kλm d m , k4,8 = c̄44 λ cosh kλm d m , k4,11 = h 15 sinh kd m ,
m m
         m m
k4,12 = h 15 cosh kd m , k5,9 = cosh kd m , k5,10 = sinh kd m , k6,7 = h 15 /μm 11 cosh kλ d ,
   m m  m  m
k6,8 = h 15 /μ11 sinh kλ d , k6,11 = cosh kd , k6,12 = sinh kd , k7,1 = 1, k7,2 = r kd λ ,
m e e

k7,4 = r kd e e15 /c̄44

e
, k7,7 = −1, k8,1 = −e15 / ∈e11 , k8,3 = −1, k8,9 = 1, k9,5 = −1,
k9,7 = h 15 /μm 11 , k9,11 = 1, k10,2 = −c̄44 λ , k10,4 = −e15 , k10,8 = c̄44 λ , k10,12 = h 15 ,
e e m m

k11,4 = − ∈11 , k11,10 =∈11 , k12,6 = −μ11 , k12,12 = μ11 .

e m e m

e < cm
Elements of the matrix K for the case c < csh sh
       
k1,1 = −c̄44
e e
λ sinh kλe d m f , k1,2 = c̄44
e e
λ cosh kλe d m f , k2,1 = e15 / ∈e11 cosh kλe d m f ,
   
k2,2 = − e15 / ∈e11 sinh kλe d m f .
e < c < cm .
Except for the above components, the other components are same as for the case csh sh

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