The coupling between electric, magnetic and elastic features in multiferroic materials is an emerging field in materials science, with important applications on alternative solid-state cooling technologies, energy harvesting and sensors/actuators. In this direction, we developed a thorough investigation of a multiferroic composite, comprising magnetocaloric/magnetostrictive GdSiGe microparticles blended into a piezo- and pyroelectric poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF) matrix. Using a simple solvent casting technique, the formation and stabilization of PVDF electroactive phases are improved when the filler content increases from 2 to 12 weight fraction (wt.%). This effect greatly contributes to the magnetoelectric (ME) coupling, with the ME coefficient increasing from 0.3 V/cm.Oe to 2.2 V/cm.Oe, by increasing the amount of magnetic material. In addition, magnetic measurements revealed that the ME-coupling has influenced the magnetocaloric effect via a contribution from the electroactive polymer and hence leading to a multicaloric effect. These results contribute to the development of multifunctional systems for novel technologies.

The bi- and tri- layered magnetoelectric composites were fabricated from magnetic Fe49Rh51 and piezoelectric PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 materials. It was shown the electric field-induced stresses reduce the magnetization around magnetic phase transition temperature of Fe49Rh51: by 5.4% for tri-layer PZT/FeRh/PZT composite and by 3.6% for bi-layer FeRh/PZT composite. The magnetoelectric properties were studied at 320 K, the magnetization rate was estimated for the magnetic field of 0.5 T. The heterogeneous distributions of stresses and magnetization in volume of magnetic layer under applied magnetic and electric fields were demonstrated using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The obtained results demonstrate the tri-layered composite is more effective for tuning the magnetization

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