homogenization
On the Possibility of Piezoelectric Nanocomposites without using Piezoelectric Materials
In a piezoelectric material an applied uniform strain can induce an electric polarization (or vice-versa). Crystallographic considerations restrict this technologically important property to non-centrosymmetric systems. It can be shown both mathematically and physically, that a non-uniform strain can potentially break the inversion symmetry and induce polarization even in non-piezoelectric dielectrics.