STRAIN GAUGE

Strain Gauge is a passive transducer that converts a mechanical elongation

or displacement produced due to a force into its corresponding change in
resistance R, inductance L, or capacitance C. A strain gauge is basically
used to measure the strain in a work piece.

Definition of Strain: In mechanical testing and measurement, you need to understand how an
object reacts to various forces. The amount of deformation a material experiences due to an
applied force is called strain. Strain is defined as the ratio of the change in length of a material to
the original, unaffected length. Strain can be positive (tensile), due to elongation, or negative
(compressive), due to contraction.

When a material is compressed in one direction, the tendency to expand in the other two
directions perpendicular to this force is known as the Poisson effect. Poisson’s ratio (v), is the
measure of this effect and is defined as the negative ratio of strain in the transverse direction to
the strain in the axial direction. Although dimensionless, strain is sometimes expressed in units
such as in./in. or mm/mm. In practice, the magnitude of measured strain is very small, so it is
often expressed as microstrain (µε), which is ε x 10-6.

Basic Principle If a metal piece is subjected to a tensile stress, the metal length will increase and
thus will increase the electrical resistance of the material. Similarly, if the metal is subjected to
compressive stress, the length will decrease, but the breadth will increase. This will also change
the electrical resistance of the conductor. If both these stresses are limited within its elastic limit
(the maximum limit beyond which the body fails to regain its elasticity), the metal conductor can
be used to measure the amount of force given to produce the stress, through its change in
resistance.
Construction : In an electrical resistance strain gauge, the device consists of a thin wire placed
on a flexible paper tissue and is attached to a variety of materials (test specimen) to measure the
strain of the material. In application, the strain gauge will be attached to a structural member
with the help of special cement. The gauge position will be in such a manner that the gauge wires
are aligned across the direction of the strain to be measured. The wire used for the purpose will
have a diameter between 0.009 to 0.0025 centimeters. When a force is applied on the wire, there
occurs a strain (consider tensile, within the elastic limit) that increases the length and decreases
its area. Thus, the resistance of the wire changes. This change in resistance is proportional to the
strain and is measured using a Wheatstone bridge.
Opeartion: When strain is applied on strain gauge its resistance changes, to measure such a
small changes in resistance, strain gage leads are connected to Wheatstone bridge. The general
Wheatstone bridge is a network of four resistive arms with an excitation voltage, V EX, that is
applied across the bridge.

The Wheatstone bridge is the electrical equivalent of two parallel voltage divider circuits. R 1 and
R2 compose one voltage divider circuit, and R4 and R3 compose the second voltage divider
circuit. The output of a Wheatstone bridge, Vo, is measured between the middle nodes of the two
voltage dividers.

From this equation, you can see that when R1 /R2 = R4 /R3, the voltage output VO is zero. Under
these conditions, the bridge is said to be balanced. Any change in resistance in any arm of the
bridge results in a nonzero output voltage. Therefore, if you replace R4 in in the above circuit
with an active strain gage, any changes in the strain gage resistance unbalance the bridge and
produce a nonzero output voltage that is a function of strain.

Gauge factor : A fundamental parameter of the strain gage is its sensitivity to strain, expressed
quantitatively as the gage factor (GF). GF is the ratio of the fractional change in electrical
resistance to the fractional change in length, or strain:

The GF for metallic strain gages is usually around 2. You can obtain the actual GF of a particular
strain gage from the sensor vendor or sensor documentation.
In practice, strain measurements rarely involve quantities larger than a few millistrain (e x 10-3).
Therefore, to measure the strain, you have to accurately measure very small changes in
resistance. For example, suppose a test specimen undergoes a strain of 500 me. A strain gage
with a GF of 2 exhibits a change in electrical resistance of only 2 (500 x 10 -6) = 0.1%. For a 120
Ω gage, this is a change of only 0.12 Ω.

Derivation for gauge factor

Consider a wire strain gage, as illustrated above. The wire is composed of a uniform conductor
of electric resistivity r with length l and cross-section area A. Its resistance R is a function of the
geometry given by

The resistance change rate is a combination effect of changes in length, cross-section area, and
resistivity.

When the strain gage is attached and bonded well to the surface of an object, the two are
considered to deform together. The strain of the strain gage wire along the longitudinal direction
is the same as the strain on the surface in the same direction.

However, its cross-sectional area will also change due to the Poisson's ratio. Suppose that the
wire is cylindrical with initial radius r. The normal strain along the radial direction is

The change rate of cross-section area is twice as the radial strain, when the strain is small.

The resistance change rate becomes

For a given material, the sensitivity of resistance versus strain can be calibrated by the following
equation.

When the sensitivity factor S is given, (usually provided by strain gage vendors) the average
strain at the point of attachment of the strain gage can be obtained by measuring the change in
electric resistance of the strain gage.

Types of Strain gauges

Types of Strain Gauges

1. Unbonded metal strain gauges

2. Bonded metal wire strain gauges
3. Bonded metal foil strain gauges
4. Vacuum deposited thin metal film strain gauges
5. Sputter deposited thin metal strain gauges
6. Bonded semiconductor strain gauges
7. Diffused metal strain gauges.

Un-bounded strain gauge: As shown in the figure below, an unbounded strain gauge has a
resistance wire stretched between two frames. The rigid pins of the two frames are insulated.
When the wire is stretched due to an applied force, there occurs a relative motion between the
two frames and thus a strain is produced, causing a change in resistance value. This change of
resistance value will be equal to the strain input.
Unbonded Metal Strain Gauge

An unbonded metal strain gauge is shown in Fig.. This gauge consists of a wire stretched
between two points in an insulating medium such as air. The wires are of copper nickel,
chrome nickel or nickel iron alloys. The flexture element is connected via a rod to a
diaphragm which is used for sensing of pressure. The wires are tensioned to avoid buckling
when they experience a compressive force
The unbonded metal wire gauges, used almost exclusively in transducer applications,
employ preloaded resistance wires connected in a Wheatstone bridge as shown in

Fig.3.

At initial preload, the strains and resistances of the four arms are nominally equal,
with the result the output voltage of the bridge, eo = 0. Application of pressure
produces a small displacement which is about 0.004 mm (full scale), the displacement
increases tension in two wires and decreases it in the other two thereby increasing the
resistance of two wires which are in tension and decreasing the resistance of the
remaining two wires. This causes an unbalance of the bridge producing an output
voltage which is proportional to the input displacement and hence to the applied
pressure. Electric resistance of each arm is 120 to 1000, the input voltage to the
bridge is 5 to 10 V, and the full scale output of the bridge is typically about 20 mV to
50 mV.

A bonded strain gauge : It will be either a wire type or a foil type as shown in the figure below.
It is connected to a paper or a thick plastic film support. The measuring leads are soldered or
welded to the gauge wire. The bonded strain gauge with the paper backing is connected to the
elastic member whose strain is to be measured.
 . The most widely used strain gage is the bonded metallic strain gage. The metallic strain gage
consists of a very fine wire or, more commonly, metallic foil arranged in a grid pattern. The grid
pattern maximizes the amount of metallic wire or foil subject to strain in the parallel direction.
The grid is bonded to a thin backing called the carrier, which is attached directly to the test
specimen. Therefore, the strain experienced by the test specimen is transferred directly to the
strain gage, which responds with a linear change in electrical resistance.

                                        Bonded Type Strain Gauges

According to the strain to be measured, the gauges can be classified as the following.

 Uniaxial/Wire Strain Gauge

The figure of such a strain gauge is shown above. It mostly uses long and narrow sensing
elements so as to maximize the length of the strain sensing material in the desired direction.
Gauge length is chosen according to the strain to be calculated.

Semiconductor Strain Gages

There are other kinds of electrical resistive strain gauges other than metal strain gauges. The
measurement principle of semiconductor gauges is based on the semiconductor piezoresistive
effect discovered by C.S. Smith in 1954 (figure 2).  

First germanium was used and later silicon. Semiconductor strain gauges are just like metal
strain gauges in construction.
The measuring element includes a strip a few tenths of a millimeter wide and a few hundredths
of a millimeter thick which is fixed to an insulating carrier foil and is provided with connecting
leads.

A thin gold wire suppresses diode effects as a connection between the semiconductor element
and the connecting strips. Semiconductor strain gauges are used for measuring very small strains.
The large signal given by this kind of strain gauge is beneficial in the presence of strong
interference fields.

Figure 2. Diagrammatic representation of a semiconductor strain gage.

Strain gauge circuits

A simple Wheatstone bridge circuit is shown in the figure below. It can be set in three different ways such
as – full bridge, half bridge or quarter bridge. A full bridge will have all four of its gauges active. The half
bridge will have two of its gauges active and thus uses two precise value resistors. The quarter bridge will
have only one gauge and the rest of the resistors will be precise in value.
Quarter bridge strain gauge circuit

A quarter bridge output corresponding to the application of a force is shown below. Initially, the
circuit will be balanced without the application of any force. When a downward force is applied,
the length of the strain gauge increases and thus a change in resistance occurs. Thus an output is
produced in the bridge corresponding to the strain.
                 Wheatstone Bridge
A full bridge circuit is used in applications where complimentary pair of strain gauges is to be bounded to
the test specimen. In practice, a half bridge and full bridge circuit has more sensitivity than the quarter
bridge circuit. But since, the bonding is difficult, a quarter bridge circuits are mostly used for strain gauge
measurements. A full bridge circuit is said to be more linear than other circuits.

An external supply is given to the bridge as shown in the diagram. Initially, when there is no application of
strain, the output measurement will be zero. Thus, the bridge is said to be balanced. With the application
of a stress to the device, the bridge will become unbalanced and produces an output voltage that is
proportional to the input stress.

The application of a full bridge and quarter bridge strain gauge circuit is shown in the figure below.
                                  Quarter And Full Bridge Strain Gauge Circuit

                                  Quarter Bridge Strain Gauge Circuit-Working

Strain gauges are frequently used in mechanical engineering research and development to
measure the stresses generated by machinery. Aircraft component testing is one area of
application, tiny strain-gauge strips glued to structural members, linkages, and any other critical
component of an airframe to measure stress

Gauge Configurations

 Biaxial Strain Gauges

 When the measurement of strain is to be done in two directions (mostly at right angles), this method is
used. The basic structure for this is the two element 90 planar rosette or the 90 planar shear/stacked foil
rosette. The gauges are wired in a Wheatstone bridge circuit to provide maximum output. For stress
analysis, the axial and transfers elements have different resistances which can be selected that the
combined output is proportional to the stress while the output of the axial element alone is proportional to
the strain. The figure is given below.

 Three Element Rosettes

It is divided into two types – three element 60delta rosette strain gauge and three element 45planar
rectangular rosette. They are used in applications where both the magnitude and direction of the applied
strains are to be found out. Both the figures are shown below. The 60 rosette is used when the direction
of the principal strain is unknown. The 45 rosette is used to determine a high angular resolution, and
when the principal strains are known.
    2.   Semiconductor Strain Gauge
This is the most commonly used strain gauge as a sensor, although the bonded type may also be used in
stress analysis purposes. The bonded type is usually made in wafers of about 0.02 centimeters in
thickness with length and resistance values nearly equal to the wire gauge. It uses either germanium or
silicon base materials to be made available in both n-type or p-type. The p-type gauges have a positive
gauge factor while the n-type gauges have a negative gauge factor. Temperature dependence of gauge
factor is governed by the resistivity of the material. The large value of the gauge factor in semiconductor
gauges is attributed to the piezoresistance effect in such materials.