Piezothermoelastic analysis of thin films deposited on elastomeric substrates

Bilayer systems have many important and emerging applications. In this paper, a bilayer system composed of a relatively stiff piezoelectric thin film bonded to an elastomeric thick substrate of a compliant material is studied. The couplings among elastic, electric and thermal fields are considered, when the bilayer system is subjected to a temperature variation, and the piezoelectric thin film is subjected to an electric potential difference between the top and bottom surfaces. An exact solution for stress distribution is derived, which takes account of the influence of the interface between the two components. Numerical results are presented and discussed.