New extremal inclusions and their applications to two-phase composites

Abstract: In this paper, we find a class of special inclusions that have the same property with respect to second order linear partial differential equations as holds for ellipsoids. That is, in the simplest case and in physical terms, constant magnetization of the inclusion implies constant magnetic field on the inclusion. The special inclusions are found as solutions of a simple variational inequality. This variational inequality allows us to prescribe the connectivity and periodicity properties of the inclusions. For example we find periodic arrays of inclusions in two and three dimensions for which constant magnetization of the inclusions implies constant magnetic field on the inclusions. The volume fraction of the inclusions can be any number between zero and one. We find such inclusions with any finite number of components and components that are multiply connected. These special inclusions enjoy many useful properties with respect to homogenization and energy minimization. For example, we use them to give new results on a) the effective properties of two-phase composites and b) optimal bounds and optimal microstructures for two-phase composites.