Continuum Mechanics of Electromagnetic Solids

Book excerpt: This volume is a rigorous cross-disciplinary theoretical treatment of electromechanical and magnetomechanical interactions in elastic solids. Using the modern style of continuum thermomechanics (but without excessive formalism) it starts from basic principles of mechanics and electromagnetism, and goes on to unify these two fields in a common framework. It treats linear and nonlinear static and dynamic problems in a variety of elastic solids such as piezoelectrics, electricity conductors, ferromagnets, ferroelectrics, ionic crystals and ceramics. Chapters 1-3 are introductory, describing the essential properties of electromagnetic solids, the essentials of the thermomechanics of continua, and the general equations that govern the electrodynamics of nonlinear continua in the nonrelativistic framework (e.g. Maxwell's equations, the fundamental balance laws of continuum mechanics, basic thermodynamical inequalities for electromagnetic continua, jump relations for studying the propagation of shock waves, nonlinear constitutive equations for large classes of materials).The remainder of the text presents in detail special cases, applications, solved problems, and more complex schemes of electromagnetic matter. Chapters 4 and 5 examine material schemes whose description relies on the above-mentioned equations. Chapters 6 and 7 are more advanced, reporting on recent progress in the field.Suitable for graduate teaching, the volume will also be useful to research workers and engineers in the field of electromagnetomechanical interactions, and to those interested in the basic principles, mathematical developments and applications of electroelasticity and magnetoelasticity in a variety of solid materials, such as crystals, polycrystals, compounds and alloys.