Composite structures exhibiting magnetoelectric (ME) coupling behavior have applications in various fields such as energy harvesting, sensors and actuators. ME coupling behavior is considered to occur by transfer of strain through bonding of the constituent phases of the ME composite. Here, the influence of thermal environment on the constitutive behavior of ferroic phases was examined, firstly by conducting experiments at various temperatures. To mimic the constitutive behavior of ferroic phases, constitutive models were built based on a thermodynamic framework. In order to account for thermal effects, appropriate functions were introduced to the formulation. Model parameters were chosen based on experimental data and simulation studies were performed. The obtained results were found to be in agreement with the experiments. Additionally, an attempt was made to capture the mechanical, electrical, magnetic and ME coupling behavior of composites. To capture the response of ME composites, a homogenization technique was employed along with the proposed constitutive relation for the constituent phases of an ME composite.

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The presence of coupling between electric and magnetic fields attracts various applications for magnetoelectric (ME) materials such as magnetic field sensors, energy harvesting devices, multiferroic motors, etc. ME effects are produced due to transfer of strain through bonding of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic constituent phases. ME effects are significantly affected by various parameters such as the constituent phases, geometry, connectivity schemes, etc. In the present work, a trilayered ME composite is made by sandwiching a ferroelectric material between two ferromagnetic materials at the top and the bottom. ME composites were made by varying the volume fractions of the ferromagnetic material. This work primarily focuses on understanding the temperature dependence of sensing characteristics and coupling factor of ME composites. With this in mind, initially the temperature dependent behavior of individual constituent phases are experimentally investigated. Experimental investigation reveals that the sensing characteristics and coupling factor of ME composites are significantly affected by the operating temperature and the volume fraction of the constituent phases.

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