The coupled electric, thermal and elastic field simulation is described for a model of BaTiO3 based PTC thermistor. The equivalent stress distribution is calculated to analyze the "thermal shock" generated by the transient temperature gradient. Since the thermal time variation is much slower than the electric or the elastic one the main loop of the simulation is the solution of the time-dependent Fourier's equation. In every time step the current density is calculated using the static current field equation with temperature-dependent electric conductivity. In any moment the stress distribution can be determined considering the uncoupled quasistatic thermoelasticity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BoleyB.A. and WeinerJ.H., Theory of Thermal Stresses (Wiley, New York, 1960).
2.
ParkusH., Mechanik der festen Körper (Springer-Verlag, Wien, 1966).
3.
TimoshenkoS. and GoodierJ.N., Theory of Elasticity (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1951).
4.
StögnerH. and PreisK., Application of higher order isoparametric finite elements in 3-D magnetic field calculation, J. Appl. Phys.53 (1982) 8411–8413.
