Piezo-Active Composites ― Orientation Effects and Anisotropy Factors

The book is devoted to the problem of microgeometry properties and anisotropy relations in modern piezo-active composites. These materials are characterized by various electromechanical properties and remarkable abilities to convert mechanical energy into electric energy and vice versa. Advantages of the performance of the composites are discussed in the context of the orientation effects, first studied by the authors for main connectivity patterns and with due regard to a large anisotropy of effective piezoelectric coefficients and electromechanical coupling factors. The novelty of the book consists in the systematization results of orientation effects, the anisotropy of piezoelectric properties and their role in forming considerable hydrostatic piezoelectric coefficients, electromechanical coupling factors and other parameters in the composites based on either ferroelectric ceramic or relaxor-ferroelectric single crystals.

Vitaly Yuryevich Topolov was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia (former USSR) on November 8th, 1961. He received the qualification “Physicist. Educator” (honours degree) in 1984 along with the degrees “Candidate of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics)” and “Doctor of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics)” in 1987 and 2000, respectively, all from the Rostov State University, Russia. He received the Professor Certificate from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia in 2011. He has been Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Science (Moscow, Russia, 2010). From 1987 to 1991, Dr. V. Yu. Topolov worked as a Research Scientist of the Institute of Physics at the Rostov State University. From 1991 to 2000, he worked as a Senior Lecturer (1991–1992) and an Associate Professor (1992–2000) of the Department of Physics at the Rostov State University. Since 2000, he has been Professor of the same Department. Since December 2006, after reforming the Rostov State University, he is a Professor of the Department of Physics at the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), and since February 2011, after reforming the departments, he is a Professor of the Department of Physics and High Technologies at the Southern Federal University. Dr. V. Yu. Topolov was also a visiting scientist at the Moscow State University, Russia (former USSR, 1989), University of Saarland, Germany (1994–1995), Aachen University of Technology – RWTH Aachen, Germany (1998), Karlsruhe Research Center, Germany (2002 and 2003–2004), University of Bath, UK (2006 and 2007), and University of Roma “Tor Vergata”, Italy (2008). His research interests include heterogeneous ferroelectrics, smart materials, domain and heterophase structures, as well as electromechanical effects in ferroelectrics and related materials. He earned the special award from the International Science Foundation (1993) and the Soros Associate Professor title and awards from the International Soros Science-Educational Program and the Open Society Institute (1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001). He presented the best poster at the International Symposium on Ferroelectric Domains (China, 2000), the best oral report at the International Conference on Relaxation Phenomena in Solids (Russia, 2010), the best training aids in the Department of Physics, Southern Federal University (Russia, 2006), and the best research works in the Department of High Technologies, Southern Federal University (Russia, 2008 and 2011). The author of two monographs published at Springer (London, UK, 2009, and Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 2012), four chapters in monographs published at Nova Science Publishers (New York, USA, 2010, 2011 and 2012), and about 340 scientific papers, reviews, conference proceedings, and abstracts. Dr. V.Yu. Topolov has been included in the list of Active Russian Scientists four times: his papers have been cited over 100 times in periodicals from 2000 to 2006, from 2001 to 2007, from 2002 to 2008, and from 2003 to 2009. Honorary co-worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, 2009). Member of the International Biographical Centre Top 100 Educators (Cambridge, UK, 2010). Biographical data by Dr. V.Yu. Topolov have been published in “Dictionary of International Biography” (IBC, Cambridge, UK), “2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century” (IBC, Cambridge, UK) and “Who’s Who in the World” (Marquis, New Providence, USA). Paolo Bisegna was born on June 13th, 1968. He received the M.Sc. degree in engineering from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy, in 1991, and the M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy, in 1994, where he received the M.D. degree from the School of Medicine in 2006. He is a Professor of Mechanics in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. He has been a visiting scholar at the Department