A new type of highly sensitive strain gage based on microstructured magnetic materials

Abstract

The paper presents the results obtained after performing an exhaustive study upon the properties of a special category of materials in form of magnetic amorphous microwires (MAWs), in order to reveal their applicability to build sensitive elements for measuring strains and deformations. The study has been directed to the Stressimpedance (SI) effect, a variant of Giant Magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect that occurs in such materials. The goal of the study was to find the optimal conditions for developing a new type of strain gage in order to build a sensitive force measurement device that would be successfully applied in robotic arm control. Following the study, we built a strain gage possessing a gage factor of about 1000 times larger than that of a metallic gage, with a linearity under 1 % for an operating range of ± 200 ppm.