Numerical study to compare effective elastic, piezoelectric, and thermal properties of a gyroid triply periodic minimal surface and 0-3 piezoelectric composites with lead-free Ba(Ti_0.8Zr_0.2 ) O₃-x (Ba_0.7Ca_0.3) TiO₃ reinforcement

The present numerical work presents a comparative study of the effective elastic, piezoelectric, and thermal properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix and Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O-3-x(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BZT-BCT) reinforcement-based piezo-composite at differentvolume fractions. The effective properties are significantly influenced by the connectivity of thereinforcement phase within the matrix. In the present work, two types of connectivity have been considered, viz. triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) interpenetrating phase composite and 0-3 connectivity. Five differentvolume fractions viz. 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% were considered. Effective properties were calculated at different volume fractions and for TPMS and 0-3 composite. Significant enhancement in effective properties was observed in TPMS piezo-composites compared to0-3 piezo-composites. The present work attempts to highlight the importance of connectivity type and the combination of lead-free piezoelectric materialBZT-BCT and TPMS reinforcement to achieve better piezoelectric performance.