Calculations of giant magnetoelectric effects in ferroic composites of rare-earth–iron alloys and ferroelectric polymers

Coupled magnetic-mechanical-electric effects involving linearly and nonlinearly coupling interactions in ferroic composites are investigated using a Green's function technique. We use the theory to suggest a possible giant magnetoelectric effect in a ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluorethylene) copolymer filled by giant magnetostrictive rare-earth--iron alloy particles, which is markedly larger than that in the best known magnetoelectric materials. The flexible composite is expected to exhibit large magnetostriction. Our results show how to design such flexible polymer-matrix magnetoelectric composites with better performance and may stimulate further interest in the areas of coupled multifield effects and magnetoelectric materials for practical applications.