Ferroelectricity and supersets Piezoelectricity, a link between electrical and mechanical response, is exhibited by a large number of ceramic materials,

including the quartz used to measure time in watches and other electronics. Such devices use both properties of piezoelectrics, using electricity to produce a mechanical motion (powering the device) and then using this mechanical motion to produce electricity (generating a signal). The unit of time measured is the natural interval required for electricity to be converted into mechanical energy and back again. The piezoelectric effect is generally stronger in materials that also exhibit pyroelectricity, and all pyroelectric materials are also piezoelectric. These materials can be used to inter convert between thermal, mechanical, or electrical energy; for instance, after synthesis in a furnace, a pyroelectric crystal allowed to cool under no applied stress generally builds up a static charge of thousands of volts. Such materials are used in motion sensors, where the tiny rise in temperature from a warm body entering the room is enough to produce a measurable voltage in the crystal.

In turn, pyroelectricity is seen most strongly in materials which also display the ferroelectric effect, in which a stable electric dipole can be oriented or reversed by applying an electrostatic field. Pyroelectricity is also a necessary consequence of ferroelectricity. This can be used to store information in ferroelectric capacitors, elements of ferroelectric RAM. The most common such materials are lead zirconate titanate and barium titanate. Aside from the uses mentioned above, their strong piezoelectric response is exploited in the design of high-frequency loudspeakers, transducers for sonar, and actuators for atomic forceand scanning tunneling microscopes.

Ferroelectricity is a property of certain materials which possess a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field.[1][2] The term is used in analogy to ferromagnetism, in which a material exhibits a permanentmagnetic moment. Ferromagnetism was already known when ferroelectricity was discovered in 1920 in Rochelle salt by Valasek.[3]Thus, the prefix ferro, meaning iron, was used to describe the property despite the fact that most ferroelectric materials do not contain iron.

Smart materials or designed materials are materials that have one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields. There are a number of types of smart material, some of which are already common. Some examples are as following: Piezoelectric materials are materials that produce a voltage when stress is applied. Since this effect also applies in the reverse manner, a voltage across the sample will produce stress within the sample. Suitably designed structures made from these materials can therefore be made that bend, expand or contract when a voltage is applied. Shape memory alloys and shape memory polymers are materials in which large deformation can be induced and recovered through temperature changes or stress changes (pseudoelasticity). The large deformation results due to martensitic phase change. Magnetostrictive materials exhibit change in shape under the influence of magnetic field and also exhibit change in their magnetization under the influence of mechanical stress. Magnetic shape memory alloys are materials that change their shape in response to a significant change in the magnetic field. pH-sensitive polymers are materials that change in volume when the pH of the surrounding medium changes. Temperature-responsive polymers are materials which undergo changes upon temperature. Halochromic materials are commonly used materials that change their colour as a result of changing acidity. One suggested application is for paints that can change colour to indicate corrosion in the metal underneath them. Chromogenic systems change colour in response to electrical, optical or thermal changes. These include electrochromic materials, which change their colour or opacity on the application of a voltage (e.g. liquid crystal displays), thermochromic materials change in colour depending on their temperature, and photochromic materials, which change colour in response to lightfor example, light sensitive sunglasses that darken when exposed to bright sunlight. Ferrofluid Photomechanical materials change shape under exposure to light. Self-healing materials have the intrinsic ability to repair damage due to normal usage, thus expanding the material's lifetime Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are smart material systems which produce large strains (up to 300%) under the influence of an external electric field. Magnetocaloric materials are compounds that undergo a reversible change in temperature upon exposure to a changing magnetic field. Thermoelectric materials are used to build devices that convert temperature differences into electricity and vice-versa

Basically, there is no standard definition for smart materials, and the term smart material is generally defined as a material that can change one or more of its properties in response to an external stimulus (Harrison JS & Oun aies Z, 2001). For example, the shape of th e material will change in response to different temperature or application of electrical charge or presenting of magnetic field. In gener al, it can be catalogued to three main groups, which are thermo-to-mechanical, electrical-to-mechanical and magnetic-to-mechanical. In the other hand, there are some materials which termed as smart material do not have the properties stated above, like the material with self-healing property is also termed as smart material. Therefore, smart material can also be expressed as a material that can perform a special action in response to some specific condition such as very high/low temperature, high stress, very high/low pH value, even material failure, etc.

1.2 Background Materials have a strong relationship with aerospace industry, as it always determines the weight, strength, efficiency, cost and difficu lty of maintenan ce of an aircraft. Therefore, the discovery of new material usually mak es a breakthrough in performance of an aircraft. Especially the findings of smart materials, it makes an innovation in aircraft because it can provide a special function or property. Accordingly, the smart materials receive a great attention in order to improve the performance o f aircraft.

1.3 History of smart materials Actually, most of smart materials have been discovered around 50 years ago, but they were not applied to aerospace industry yet. As the demand of smart structure of aircraft is increasing significantly, en gineers started to focus on the application of smart materials on aerospace industry. Accordingly, the attention of smart material has been increasing continuously since the past decade (Monner HP 2005). By now, they have been widely applied in aircrafts to improve their performance. For example, a simply structured smart material actuator can r eplace the heavy, multi-components structured actuator according to redu ce the weight and difficulty of maintenance. Moreover, the fast r esponse in electro-to-mechanical effect of some smart material achieves an excellent result of vibration/noise control.

1.4 Significance Studying of the smart materials is a key to make the innovation of aerospace industry. The reason is the conventional automatic system has several limitations comparing to the smart system. The limitations are multiple energ y conversions, large number of parts, high vulnerability (especially h ydraulic network) and narrower frequency bandwidth (Yousefi-Koma A & Zimcik DG, 2003). Accordingly, the conventional system has a larger weight, size and potential failure. In contr ast, smart actuators, e.g. electrical-to-mechanical type, are much more efficient because the electricity is directly converse to actuation and transmitting speed of electricity is much high er. Moreover, the compact size and light weight of smart actuators will not give much loading or r estriction to structure of aircraft, thus a higher freedom is given to the aircraft design. Therefo re, studying smart material is necessary for improving aircrafts performance.

2. Piezoelectric Materials

2.1 Properties of piezoelectric materials Among different types of smart material, piezoelectric material is widely used because of the fast electromechanical response, wide bandwidth, high generative force and relatively lo w power r equirements (Harrison JS and Ounaies Z, 2001). There are two main types of piezoelectric materials are applied as smart material, which are piezoelectric ceramic and polymer. According to Harrison and Ounaies, the classic definition of piezoelectricity is the gen eration of electricity polarization in a material due to the mechanical stress. It is called as direct effect. Also, the piezoelectric material has a converse effect that a mechanical deformation will happen if an electrical charge or signal is applied. Accordingly, it can b e a sensor to detect the mechanical stress b y direct effect. Altern atively, a significant increase of size due to the electrical charge can be an actuator.

2.2 Theorem of Piezoelectric materials Basically, piezoelectric materials are a transducer between electricity and mechanical stress. The piezoelectric material has this effect because of its crystallized structure. For the crystal, each molecule has a polarization; it means one end is more negatively charged while the other end is more positively charged, and it is called dipole. Furthermore, it directly affects how the atoms make up the molecule and how the molecules are shaped. Therefore, the basic concept of piezoelectricity is to change the orientation of polarization of the molecules (RERC, 2007).

To illustrate clearly, a p olar axis is imaginatively set in a molecule that run through the center of two different charges. Regarding the orientation of polar axis, the crystal can be divided into two types which ar e monocrystal and polycrystal (RERC, 2007). The monocrystal means that all the molecules polar axes are oriented in the same direction (Figure 2.1), and the polycrystal means that the polar axis of the molecules are randomly o riented (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

For piezoelectric material, the crystal is in form of polycrystal initially and the crystal is connected with the electrodes. By applying the electric ch arge to the polycrystal, it almost become the monocrystal, accordingly the sharp will change which is shown as the converse piezoelectric effect (Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3

In order to different direction of applied stress or charge, it will have different outcome which is shown in figure 2.4 (RERC, 2007). In (a), it is the initial state of the piezoelectric material. For (b), a compressive force is applied to the material, then the polarity current will flow in the same direction with polar axis. Conversely, it will have the opposite polarity current if it is in tension. In (c), it shown that the applied opposite polarity current will result in elongation. Also, the same direction of polarity voltage, (d), will result in compression. Finally, (e), a vibration will happen if the AC signal is applied, furthermore, their frequency will be the same.

Figure 2.4 2.3 Performance of piezoelectric material For different piezoelectric material, they have the differ ent performance and application. In these piezoelectric materials, PZT, Lead Zironate Titanate, should be the most popular. Because it can perform both the direct and conserve piezoelectric effect, thus it can be used as a sensor and actuator. Besides that, it can apply the longitudinal, transversal and shear deformation. Therefo re, it can be widely used in different applications. Moreover, it is flex ible, light in weight and cost effective. In general, it is used as actuator and vibration reducing device. The performance of PZT is shown in next page:

Material Youngs modulus, Gpa

Max actuator strain, m/m

Density, Operating Blocking Volumetri Gravimetric g/cm3 frequency at Max strain, Hz stress, Mpa work per cycle, J/cm3 work per cycle, J/kg

PZT 50-70 0.12-0.18 7.6 100000 72 0.0108 1.42

(Source from: http://rerc.icu.ac.kr/UploadFile/DOC/pzt_device_app_manual.pdf)

2.4 Application of piezoelectric material The material always influences the weight, service life, function and strength of the aircraft. Hence discovery of new material is usually respecting an innovation in aerospace industry. Regarding the application of piezoelectric material, there are two main functions which are shape control and vibration control.

2.4.1 Aerodynamic feature

In term of shape changing, it means the changing of aerodynamic feature. Conventionally, the aircrafts control surface is still controlled indirectly and lack of flexibility. However, the piezoelectric actuator can perform an innovative mechanism of control system; it greatly increases the perfor mance and maneuverability due to flexible, efficient and thin actuator.

2.4.2 Vibration control

Regarding vibration, it is an unwanted effect in aircraft because it can contribute to stress concentration, material fatigue, shortening service life, efficiency reduction and noise. Obviously, these problems influence the safety and maintenance cost sharply. Besides, the noise problem is always considered, especially the passen gers aircraft, as the noise is a great annoyance. Th erefore, the engineers always want to minimize the vibration. Conventionally, it is difficult to provide a p recise active damping which produces a vibration with anti-resonance frequency. By the piezoelectric material, it can be used as sensor and actuator at the same time, so it has a fast enou gh response to produce the anti-reson ance vibration (the mechanism of vibration is shown in fig. 2.4f). Furthermore, it is flexible, small and thin to be applied in many parts of aircr aft.

2.4.3 Adaptive smart wing

Conventionally, the flap, rudder and elevator are adjusted by electronic motor or mechanical control system like cable or hydraulic system. By applying piezoelectric actuator, no discrete surfaces are required because the control surface can be change 10

the sharp itself in order to change the aerodynamic feature (shown in Figure 2.5). Therefore, it creates a continuous surface which will not cause early airflo w separation hen ce to reduce the drag, but also the lift is increased due to the delay airflow separation (Yousefi-Koma A & Zimcik DG 2003). Accordingly, it increases the efficiency significantly.

Figure 2.5 Basically, the concept of smart wing is to construct a continuous control surface embedded b y a series of piezoelectric actuator. Furthermore, it is required to have a high strength-to-weight ratio; it means the actuator has to be placed strategically for optimizing a light weight design. Finally, it should have an ability to change the shape response to differ ent flight condition, hence the performance of cruise flight can be improved that the conventional aircraft cannot achieve. In fact, this concept has started to be investigated since 1990. However, the smart wing system is mainly focus on military aircraft performance and maneuver improvement. Since 1994, this smart wing project has been started by many industries and research centers such as US Air Force, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Lockh eed Martin, UCLA and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Yousefi-Koma A & Zimcik DG 2003). They constructed a 30% scale Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) at NASA Lan gley Research Centre. By two wind tunnel testing, it showed that the system had a high rate, large 11

deflection, conformal trailing edge control at realistic flight conditions.

2.4.4 Helicopter blade application

For the improvement of helicopter, most of engineers focus on the eliminating acoustic problem because it is the major problem and disadvantage. From the theoretical and ex perimental work both in Europe and USA, it shows that the BVI (Blade Vortex Interaction, shown in Figure 2.6) is the main source of noise, fortunately it can be dramatically reduced, 8 to 10dB, by an app ropriate control of blades (Monner HP & Wierach P).

Figure 2.6

In order to solve this pro blem, there are two possible solutions. The first solution is to construct the blade that can perform a continuous twisting. The second solution is the servo-aerodynamic control surface like flap, tab, or blade-tip is installed on the blade to generate aerodynamic force (Giurgiutiu, V 2000). Practically, it is difficult to install any conventional actuator in the blades of helicopter. Howev er, the piezoelectric actuator seems to be suitable for the blades, so it receives an extensive attention (Giurgiutiu, V 2000).

12

2.4.5 Twist blades concept

The twist blades is a more difficult concept and it needs man y theoretical studies to find out the twist angle to optimize the vibration elimination. However, this concept receives many advantages such as smooth continuous deformed surface, high aerodynamic sensitivity, excellent structural and dynamic compatibility, minor influence of actuation forces on blade strength and no moving components involved (Monner HP & Wierach P).

To perform the twist blades, the simple way is to embed the PZT in the blades skin. In 1997, Chen and Chopra constructed a 1:8 Froude scale composite blade with diagonally oriented PZT wafers (shown in Figure 2.7). From the wind tunnel testing, the twist angle at resonance frequency wer e 0.35 and 1.1 Giurgiutiu, V 2000).

Figure 2.7 According to German Aerospace Center, a BO105 model rotor blade was selected as a demonstrator of twist blade system, the schematic graph is shown in Figure 2.8. Comparing to the normal BO105 model rotor blade, there was a noise r eduction of

13

3dB for an active twist of 0.8 at blade tip. Furthermore, a power redu ction of 2.3% at 87m/s (Monner HP & Wierach P)

Figure 2.8

2.4.6 Rotor Blade flap

In this concept, a discrete control surface is set on the blade. Although this concept has less efficiency, it is a quicker-to-the-target method to perform a active control and vibration reduction. Practically, a federally funded program at Boeing Mesa, Smart Materials Actuation Rotor Technolo gy (SMART), is doing a full-scale demonstration to proof the concept, and this concept can be applied to other model if it is successful Giurgiutiu, V 2000).

In this demonstration, MD 900 bearingless rotor is used as demonstrator. A prototype actuator with a two-stage amplification and bi-axial operation was constructed and tested (Straub et al ., 1999 in Giurgiutiu, V 2000). The schematic graph is shown in figure 2.9.

14

Figure 2.9

2.4.7 Cabin interior noise

The noise of aircraft is a significant annoyance to the passen gers. Conventionally, the passive damping device is used which is just capable of high frequency vibration. However, the interior noise from vibration of fuselage and engine is low frequency hence the passive damping device cannot perform a satisfied noise reduction. Accordingly, an active damping device is needed and the piezoelectric material is a suitable choice.

Basically, this noise reduction system is called Active Structural Acoustic Control (ASAC). In this system, the piezoceramic patch actuators are used with passive vibration insulations to optimize the capabilities (Monner HP & Wierach P). In practice, there was a demonstration of ASAC to a full-scale aircraft. In this

15

experiment, the Bombard ier Dash-8 turbo prop aircraft was used as the test model and the result is satisfied ( Figure 2.10). There was a reduction more than 20dB at the blade passage frequency of 61Hz (Yousefi-Koma A & Zimcik DG 2003).

Figure 2.10

2.4.8 Tail-buffet suppression

Tail-buffet is an acute vibration caused by unsteady pressures associated with separated flow, or vortices exciting the vibration modes of the v ertical-fin-structural assemblies (Yousefi-Ko ma A & Zimcik DG 2003). This problem could contribute to a high maintenance cost because frequent inspection is required, especially the high performance aircraft. In real case, the fighters with twin-tail design, F/A-18 and F-15, are exactly f acin g this problem. In order to keep the high standard of per formance and safety, the piezoelectric actuator can be used to control the vibration.

To examine the effectiveness of applying piezoelectric material, the Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) with collaboration of Canada, USA and Australia have done a demonstration of applying piezoelectric actuator on a full-scale F/A-18 (Yousefi-Koma A & Zimcik DG 2003). They installed the piezoelectric actuator on 16

flight, and 10% at the worst case. In addition, the double durability of the both sides of fin over a wide area (shown in Figure 2.11). In the result, it showed the active control was effective to reduce the amplitude up to 60% at the nominal the

Applications Main article: Magnet#Common uses of magnets There are a great variety of applications of the hysteresis in ferromagnets. Many of these make use of their ability to retain a memory, for example magnetic tape, hard disks, and credit cards. In these applications, hard magnets (high coercivity) like iron are desirable so the memory is not easily erased. Soft magnets (low coercivity) are used as cores in electromagnets. The nonlinear response of the magnetic moment to a magnetic field boosts the response of the coil wrapped around it. The low coercivity reduces that energy loss associated with hysteresis. Physical origin Main article: Ferromagnetism The phenomenon of hysteresis in ferromagnetic materials is the result of two effects: rotation of magnetization and changes in size or number of magnetic domains. In general, the magnetization varies (in direction but not magnitude) across a magnet, but in sufficiently small magnets, it does not. In these single-domain magnets, and the magnetization responds to a magnetic field by rotating. Single-domain magnets are used wherever a strong, stable magnetization is needed (for example, magnetic recording). Larger magnets are divided into regions called domains. Across each domain, the magnetization does not vary; but between domains are relatively thin domain walls in which the direction of magnetization rotates from the direction of one domain to another. If the magnetic field changes, the walls move, changing the relative sizes of the domains. Because the domains are not magnetized in the same direction, the magnetic moment per unit volume is smaller than it would be in a single-domain magnet; but domain walls involve rotation of only a small part of the magnetization, so it is much easier to change the magnetic

moment. The magnetization can also change by addition or subtraction of domains (called nucleation and denucleation). Magnetic hysteresis

Fig. 2. A plot of magnetization m against magnetic field h calculated using atheoretical model. Starting at the origin, the upward curve is the initial magnetization curve. The downward curve after saturation, along with the lower return curve, form the main loop. The intercepts hc and mrs are the coercivity andsaturation remanence. When an external magnetic field is applied to aferromagnet such as iron, the atomic dipoles align themselves with it. Even when the field is removed, part of the alignment will be retained: the material has becomemagnetized. Once magnetized, the magnet will stay magnetized indefinitely. To demagnetize it requires heat or a magnetic field in the opposite direction. This is the effect that provides the element of memory in a hard disk drive. The relationship between field strength H and magnetization M is not linear in such materials. If a magnet is demagnetized (H=M=0) and the relationship between H and M is plotted for increasing levels of field strength, M follows the initial magnetization curve. This curve increases rapidly at first and then approaches anasymptote called magnetic saturation. If the magnetic field is now reduced monotonically, M follows a different curve. At zero field strength, the magnetization is offset from

the origin by an amount called the remanence. If theH-M relationship is plotted for all strengths of applied magnetic field the result is a hysteresis loop called themain loop. The width of the middle section is twice thecoercivity of the material.[15] A closer look at a magnetization curve generally reveals a series of small, random jumps in magnetization called Barkhausen jumps. This effect is due to crystallographic defects such asdislocations.[16] Electrical hysteresis Electrical hysteresis typically occurs in ferroelectric material, where domains of polarization contribute to the total polarization. Polarization is the electrical dipole moment (either Cm2 or Cm). The mechanism, an organization of the polarization into domains, is similar to that of magnetic hysteresis. Hysteresis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Not to be confused with Hysteria.

Fig. 1. Electric displacement field D of aferroelectric material as the electric field E is first decreased, then increased. The curves form ahysteresis loop. Hysteresis is the dependence of a system not only on its current environment but also on its past environment. This dependence arises because the system can be in more than one internal state. To predict its future development, either its internal state or its history must be known.[1] If a given input alternately increases and decreases, the output tends to form a loop as in Fig. 1. However, loops may also occur

because of a dynamic lag between input and output. Often, this effect is also referred to as hysteresis, or rate-dependent hysteresis. This effect disappears as the input changes more slowly, so many experts do not regard it as true hysteresis. Hysteresis occurs in ferromagnetic materials and ferroelectric materials, as well as in the deformation of some materials (such as rubber bands and shape-memory alloys) in response to a varying force. In natural systems hysteresis is often associated with irreversible thermodynamic change. Many artificial systems are designed to have hysteresis: for example, in thermostats and Schmitt triggers, hysteresis is produced by positive feedback to avoid unwanted rapid switching. Hysteresis has been identified in many other fields, including economics andbiology. Applications The nonlinear nature of ferroelectric materials can be used to make capacitors with tunable capacitance. Typically, a ferroelectric capacitor simply consists of a pair of electrodes sandwiching a layer of ferroelectric material. The permittivity of ferroelectrics is not only tunable but commonly also very high in absolute value, especially when close to the phase transition temperature. Because of this, ferroelectric capacitors are small in physical size compared to dielectric (non-tunable) capacitors of similar capacitance. The spontaneous polarization of ferroelectric materials implies a hysteresis effect which can be used as a memory function, and ferroelectric capacitors are indeed used to make ferroelectric RAM[4] for computers and RFID cards. In these applications thin films of ferroelectric materials are typically used, as this allows the field required to switch the polarization to be achieved with a moderate voltage. However, when using thin films a great deal of attention needs to be paid to the interfaces, electrodes and sample quality for devices to work reliably.[5] Ferroelectric materials are required by symmetry considerations to be also piezoelectric and pyroelectric. The combined properties of memory, piezoelectricity, and pyroelectricity make ferroelectric capacitors very useful, e.g. for sensor applications. Ferroelectric capacitors are used in medical ultrasound machines (the capacitors generate and then listen for the ultrasound ping used to image the internal organs of a body), high quality infrared cameras (the infrared image is projected onto a two dimensional array of ferroelectric

capacitors capable of detecting temperature differences as small as millionths of a degree Celsius), fire sensors, sonar, vibration sensors, and even fuel injectors on diesel engines. Another idea of recent interest is the ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) in which a contact made up by nanometer-thick ferroelectric film placed between metal electrodes.[6] The thickness of the ferroelectric layer is small enough to allow tunneling of electrons. The piezoelectric and interface effects as well as the depolarization eld may lead to a giant electroresistance (GER) switching effect. Yet another hot topic is multiferroics, where researchers are looking for ways to couple magnetic and ferroelectric ordering within a material or heterostructure; there are several recent reviews on this topic.[7] [edit]Materials The internal electric dipoles of a ferroelectric material are coupled to the material lattice so anything that changes the lattice will change the strength of the dipoles (in other words, a change in the spontaneous polarization). The change in the spontaneous polarization results in a change in the surface charge. This can cause current flow in the case of a ferroelectric capacitor even without the presence of an external voltage across the capacitor. Two stimuli that will change the lattice dimensions of a material are force and temperature. The generation of a surface charge in response to the application of an external stress to a material is called piezoelectricity. A change in the spontaneous polarization of a material in response to a change in temperature is called pyroelectricity. Ferroelectric phase transitions are often characterized as either displacive (such as BaTiO3) or order-disorder (such as NaNO2), though often phase transitions will demonstrate elements of both behaviors. In barium titanate, a typical ferroelectric of the displacive type, the transition can be understood in terms of a polarization catastrophe, in which, if an ion is displaced from equilibrium slightly, the force from the local electric fields due to the ions in the crystal increases faster than the elastic-restoring forces. This leads to an asymmetrical shift in the equilibrium ion positions and hence to a permanent dipole moment. The ionic displacement in barium titanate concerns the relative position of the titanium ion within the oxygen octahedral cage. In lead titanate, another key ferroelectric material, although the structure is rather similar to barium titanate the driving force for ferroelectricity is more complex with interactions between the lead and oxygen ions also playing an important role. In an order-disorder ferroelectric, there is a dipole moment in each unit cell, but at high temperatures they are pointing in random directions.

Upon lowering the temperature and going through the phase transition, the dipoles order, all pointing in the same direction within a domain. An important ferroelectric material for applications is lead zirconate titanate (PZT), which is part of the solid solution formed between ferroelectric lead titanate and anti-ferroelectric lead zirconate. Different compositions are used for different applications; for memory applications, PZT closer in composition to lead titanate is preferred, whereas piezoelectric applications make use of the diverging piezoelectric coefficients associated with the morphotropic phase boundary that is found close to the 50/50 composition. Ferroelectric crystals often show several transition temperatures and domain structure hysteresis, much as do ferromagnetic crystals. The nature of the phase transition in some ferroelectric crystals is still not well understood. In 1974 R.B. Meyer used symmetry arguments to predict ferroelectric liquid crystals[8], and the prediction could immediately be verified by several observations of behavior connected to ferroelectricity in smectic liquid-crystal phases that are chiral and tilted. The technology allows the building of flat-screen monitors. Mass production began in 1994 by Canon. However, the costs were too high, and the production was shut down 1999 (or before) after big losses. In 2010 David Field found that prosaic films of chemicals such as nitrous oxide or propane exhibited ferroelectric properties. This new class of ferroelectric materials may have wide ranging applications in device and nano-technology and also influence the electrical nature of dust in the interstellar medium. Continuum mechanics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Continuum mechanics

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Continuum mechanics is a branch of mechanics that deals with the analysis of thekinematics and the mechanical behavior of materials modelled as a continuous mass rather than as discrete particles. The French mathematician Augustin Louis Cauchy was the first to formulate such models in the 19th century, but research in the area continues today. Modelling an object as a continuum assumes that the substance of the object completely fills the space it occupies. Modelling objects in this way ignores the fact that matter is made of atoms, and so is not continuous; however, on length scales much greater than that of interatomic distances, such models are highly accurate. Fundamental physical laws such as the conservation of mass, the conservation of momentum, and the conservation of energy may be applied to such models to derivedifferential equations describing the behavior of such objects, and some information about the particular material studied is added through a constitutive relation. Continuum mechanics deals with physical properties of solids and fluids which are independent of any particular coordinate system in which they are observed. These physical properties are then represented by tensors, which are mathematical objects that have the required property of being independent of coordinate system. These tensors can be expressed in coordinate systems for computational convenience. Concept of a continuum Materials, such as solids, liquids and gases, are composed of molecules separated by empty space. On a macroscopic scale, materials have cracks and discontinuities. However, certain physical phenomena can be modelled assuming the materials exist as a continuum, meaning the matter in the body is continuously distributed and fills the entire region of space it occupies. A continuum is a body that can be continually sub-divided into infinitesimal elements with properties being those of the bulk material. The validity of the continuum assumption may be verified by a theoretical analysis, in which either some clear periodicity is identified

orstatistical homogeneity and ergodicity of the microstructure exists. More specifically, the continuum hypothesis/assumption hinges on the concepts of a representative volume element (RVE) (sometimes called "representative elementary volume") and separation of scales based on the HillMandel condition. This condition provides a link between an experimentalist's and a theoretician's viewpoint on constitutive equations (linear and nonlinear elastic/inelastic or coupled fields) as well as a way of spatial and statistical averaging of the microstructure.[1] When the separation of scales does not hold, or when one wants to establish a continuum of a finer resolution than that of the RVE size, one employs a statistical volume element (SVE), which, in turn, leads to random continuum fields. The latter then provide a micromechanics basis for stochastic finite elements (SFE). The levels of SVE and RVE link continuum mechanics to statistical mechanics. The RVE may be assessed only in a limited way via experimental testing: when the constitutive response becomes spatially homogeneous. Specifically for fluids, the Knudsen number is used to assess to what extent the approximation of continuity can be made. [edit]Major areas of continuum mechanics Elasticity Describes materials that return to their rest shape after an Solid mechanics applied stress. The study of the physics of Plasticity continuous materials with a Describes Continuum materials that defined rest mechanics Rheology permanently shape. The study of The study of deform after a the physics of sufficient applied materials with both continuous solid and fluid stress. materials characteristics. Fluid mechanics Non-Newtonian The study of the fluids physics of continuous materials which Newtonian fluids take the shape of

their container.