reference for researchers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank UNL for a Maude Hammond Fling Faculty Research Fellowship in 2003 for the preparation of the first draft of this book. I also wish to thank Ms. Deborah Derrick of the College of Engineering and Technology at UNL for editing assistance with the book, and Professor David Y. Gao of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for recommending this book to Kluwer for publication in the series of Advances in Mechanics and Mathematics. JSY Lincoln, Nebraska 2004 Preface Electroelastic materials exhibit electromechanical coupling. They experience mechanical deformations when placed in an electric field, and become electrically polarized under mechanical loads. Strictly speaking, piezoelectricity refers to linear electromechanical couplings only.