Theoretical study of nonlinear magnetoelectric response in laminated magnetoelectric composites

A theoretical model is established for nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) response in trilayer laminated composites of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric phases which based on the nonlinear constitutive relationships for giant magnetostrictive material and linear constitutive relationships for piezoelectric material. In this theoretical model, the equivalent circuit method is used for characterizing the ME response, in which the insulating layers and the mechanical losses of laminated composites are taken into consideration. The theoretical results are shown that the change of ME field coefficients with external magnetic field are reasonably agree with the experimental results both under low and resonant frequency conditions. Furthermore, the dependences of ME response on the magnetostrictive properties and thickness ratio of magnetostrictive layers, the mechanical losses and the property of insulating layers are discussed in details. This theoretical model is of important for both the basic understanding of the ME response of magnetoelectric laminate composites and the designing and fabricating ME devices such as magnetic–electric field sensors, energy harvesting transducers and solid tunable transformers.