Toward an ideal electrical resistance strain gauge using a bare and single straight strand metallic glassy fiber

Abstract

Electrical resistance strain gauges (SGs) are useful tools for experimental stress analysis and the strain sensing elements in many electromechanical transducers including load cells, pressure transducers, torque meters, accelerometers, force cells, displacement transducers and so forth. The commonly used commercial crystalline strain sensing materials of SGs are in the form of wire or foil of which performance and reliability is not good enough due to their low electrical resistivity and incapacity to get thin thickness. Smaller SGs with single straight strand strain sensing materials, which are called ideal SG, are highly desirable for more than seven decades since the first SG was invented. Here, we show the development of a type of minuscule length scale strain gauge by using a bare and single straight strand metallic glassy fiber (MGF) with high resistivity, much smaller lengthscale, high elastic limits (2.16%) and especially the super piezoresistance effect. We anticipate that our metallic glassy fiber strain gauge (MGFSG), which moves toward the ideal SGs, would have wide applications for electromechanical transducers and stress analysis and catalyze development of more micro-and nanoscale metallic glass applications.