Screw dislocation interacting with interfacial and interface cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials

Interface and interfacial cracks interacting with screw dislocations in piezoelectric bimaterials subjected to antiplane mechanical and in-plane electrical loadings are studied within the framework of linear piezoelectricity theory. Straight dislocations with the Burgers vector normal to the isotropic basal plane near the interface or interfacial crack are considered. The dislocations are characterized by a discontinuous electric potential across the slip plane and are subjected to a line-force and a line-charge at the core. An explicit solution for the screw dislocation in piezoelectric bimaterial with straight interface is found based on the solution of a similar problem for infinite homogenous medium. The obtained relation is independent of the nature of singularity. This fundamental result is used to analyze dislocation interacting with a set of collinear interfacial cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials. Three solutions for the screw dislocation interacting with a semi-infinite crack, finite crack, and edge crack between two bonded dissimilar piezoelectric materials are obtained in closed-form. These solutions can be used as Green's functions for the analyses of interfacial cracks in piezoelectric bimaterials.