Study and fabrication of a flexible Zr-based metallic glass thin film strain gauge

Abstract

Metallic glass is an amorphous structure and has excellent mechanical properties such as high strength, hardness and elastic strain limitation. In this study, a Zr-based metallic glass thin film was deposited on a polymer substrate using the sputter technique for strain gauge applications. A copper thin film strain gauge was fabricated to compare with the properties of the Zr-based strain gauge. Different thicknesses of the thin films were fabricated for comparison. The gauge factor of the Zr-based strain gauge is 2.4 times higher than that of the copper strain gauge. The temperature coefficient of resistance of the Zr-based metallic glass thin film is extremely low, 8 × 10-6 °C-1, which is essential to reduce thermal drift for strain gauge applications.