5.

2 ETCHED-FOIL STRAIN GAGES 193

5. The response or output of the gage should be linear over the entire strain
range of the gage.
6. The gage and associated electronics should be economical.
7. Installation and readout of the gage should require minimal skills and under¬
standing.

While no single gage system can be considered optimum, the electrical resistance
strain gage very nearly meets all of the required characteristics listed above.

5.2 ETCHED-FOIL STRAIN GAGES

The sensitivity of a metallic conductor to strain was developed in Section

3.4 and it is evident from Eq. (3.4)

dR/R dp/p
+ (1 + 2v) (3.4 bis)
8 e

that it is possible to measure strain with a straight length of wire if the change
in resistance is monitored as the wire is subjected to a strain. However, the
circuits required to measure dR (in practice AR) have power supplies with limited
current capabilities and the power dissipated by the gage itself must be limited.
As a result, strain gages are usually manufactured with a resistance of 120 H or
more. These high values of gage resistance, in most cases, preclude fabrication
from a straight length of wire, since the gage becomes too long.
When electrical resistance strain gages were first introduced (1936-1956),
the gage element was produced by winding a grid with very-fine-diameter wire.
Since the late 1950s, most gages have been fabricated from ultra-thin metal foil
by using an advanced photoetching process. Since this process is quite versatile,
a wide variety of gage sizes and grid shapes are produced (see Fig. 3.12). Gages
as small as 0.20 mm in length are commercially available. Standard gage resist¬
ances are 120 Cl and 350 Cl; but in some configurations, resistances of 500 fl
and 1000 fi are available. The foil gages are normally fabricated from Advance,
Karma, or Isoelastic alloys (see Table 3.1). In addition, high-temperature gages
are available in several of the heat-resistant alloys.
The etched metal-film grids are very fragile and easy to distort or tear. To
avoid these difficulties, the metal film is bonded to a thin sheet of plastic (see
Fig. 3.10), which serves as a backing material and carrier before the photoetching
process is performed. The carrier contains markings for the centerlines of the
gage length and width to facilitate installation and serves to electrically insulate
the metal grid from the specimen once it is installed.
For general-purpose strain-gage applications, a polyimide plastic that is
tough and flexible is used for the carrier. For transducer applications, where
precision and linearity are extremely important, a very thin, brittle, high-modulus
194 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

epoxy is used for the carrier. Glass-reinforced epoxy is used when the gage will
be exposed to high-level cyclic strains or when the gage will be employed at
temperatures as high as 750°F (400°C). For very-high-temperature applications,
a gage with a strippable carrier is available. The carrier is removed during
installation of the gage. A ceramic adhesive is used to maintain the grid config¬
uration and to electrically insulate the grid from the specimen.

5.3 STRAIN-GAGE INSTALLATION

The bonded type of electrical resistance strain gage is a high-quality pre¬

cision resistor that must be attached to a specimen by utilizing the correct ad¬
hesive and by employing proper mounting procedures. The adhesive serves a
vital function in the strain-measuring system, since it must transmit the surface
displacement from the specimen to the gage grid without distortion. At first it
may appear that this function can be accomplished with almost any strong ad¬
hesive; however, experience has shown that improperly selected and cured ad¬
hesives can seriously degrade a gage installation by changing the gage factor
and/or the initial resistance of the gage. Improperly cured or viscoelastic ad¬
hesives also produce gage hysteresis and signal loss due to stress relaxation. Best
results are obtained with a strong, viscous-free, well-cured adhesive that forms
a very thin bond line.
The surface of the component in the area where gages are to be positioned
must be carefully prepared before the gages are installed. This preparation
consists of paint and/or rust removal followed by sanding to obtain a smooth
but not highly polished surface. Solvents are then used to eliminate all traces
of grease and oil. Finally, the surface should be treated with a basic solution to
give it the proper chemical affinity for the adhesive.
Next, the gage location is marked on the specimen with a very light scribe
line and the gage, without adhesive, is positioned by using a rigid transparent
tape in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5.1. The position and orientation of the
gage are maintained by the tape as the adhesive is applied and as the gage is
pressed into place by squeezing out the excess adhesive.
Once the gage is positioned, the adhesive must be subjected to a proper
combination of pressure and temperature for the period of time needed to ensure
a complete cure. The curing process is quite critical since the adhesive will expand
during heating, experience a volume change during polymerization, exhibit a
contraction while cooling, and sometimes exhibit a postcure shrinkage. Since
the adhesive is strong enough to control deformation of the gage, changes in
the volume of the adhesive influence the resistance of the gage. Of particular
importance is postcure shrinkage, which can influence gage resistance long after
the adhesive is supposed to be completely cured. If a long-term measurement
of strain is made with a gage having an adhesive that has not completely poly¬
merized, the signal from the gage will drift with time and accuracy of the data
will be seriously impaired.
196 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

For most strain-gage applications, either cyanoacrylate or epoxy adhesives

are used. The cyanoacrylate adhesive (Permabond 910) has the advantage of
being easier to apply, since it requires no heat, requires only a gentle pressure
that can be applied with one’s thumb, and requires only about 10 min for
complete polymerization. Its disadvantages include a deterioration with time,
water absorption, and elevated temperatures. The epoxy adhesives are superior
to cyanoacrylates; however, they are more difficult to apply since they require
a pressure of 5 to 20 psi (35 to 140 kPa) and often require application of heat
for an hour or more while the pressure is applied. After the adhesive is com¬
pletely cured, the gage should be waterproofed with a light overcoating of crys¬
talline wax or a polyurethane.
Lead wires are attached to the terminals of the gage so that the change in
resistance can be monitored with a suitable instrumentation system. Since the
foil strain gages are fragile even when bonded to a structure, care must be
exercised as the lead wires are attached to the soldering tabs. Intermediate
anchor terminals, which are much more rugged than the strain gage tabs, are
used to protect the gage from damage, as shown in Fig. 5.2. A small-diameter
wire (32 to 36 gage) is used to connect the gage terminal to the anchor terminal.
Three lead wires are soldered to the anchor terminal, as shown in Fig. 5.2, to
provide for temperature compensation of the lead wires in the Wheatstone bridge
(see Section 5.4).

5.4 THE WHEATSTONE BRIDGE FOR STRAIN-GAGE SIGNAL

CONDITIONING

The basic equations governing balance condition, output voltage, nonlin¬

earity, and sensitivity of Wheatstone bridges with constant-voltage and constant-
current power supplies were developed in Sections 4.4 and 4.5. Since the Wheat¬
stone bridge is the most commonly employed circuit to convert the resistance
change AR/R from a strain gage to an output voltage E„, its application for this

Figure 5.2 A strain-gage installation with anchor terminals. (Courtesy of Micro-Meas¬

urements.)
5.4 THE WHEATSTONE BRIDGE FOR STRAIN-GAGE SIGNAL CONDITIONING 197

purpose is considered in detail in this section. One of the first questions that
arises pertaining to use of the Wheatstone bridge for strain measurements con¬
cerns location of the gage or gages within the bridge. An answer to this question
can be provided by considering the four common bridge arrangements shown
in Fig. 5.3.

Case 1: This bridge arrangement utilizes a single active gage in position

and is often employed for both static and dynamic strain-gage measurements
where temperature compensation is not required. The resistance equals Rg
and the other three resistances are selected to maximize the circuit sensitivity
while maintaining the balance condition RiR^ = /?2^4-
The sensitivity of the strain-gage Wheatstone-bridge system is defined as
the product of the sensitivity of the gage Sg and the sensitivity of the bridge
circuit S^. Thus,

5^ — S Sc (5.1)
ARg/Rg

Figure 5.3 Four common strain-gage arrangements in a Wheatstone bridge.

198 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

From Eqs. (3.5) and (4.28),

(5.2)

Equation (5.2) indicates that the sensitivity of the system is controlled by the
circuit efficiency r/(l + r) and the characteristics of the strain gage Sg, Pg, and
Rg. The most important of the two factors is the characteristics of the strain
gage that vary widely with gage selection. The gage factor Sg is about 2 for gages
fabricated from Advance or Karma alloys and about 3.6 for Isoelastic alloys.
Resistances of 120 and 350 fl are available for most grid configurations; resist¬
ances of 500 and 1000 fl can be obtained for a few configurations. Power dis¬
sipation Pg is more difficult to specify since it depends upon the conductivity
and heat-sink capacity of the specimen to which the gage is bonded. Power
density P^ is defined as

(5.3)
A

where Pg is the power that can be dissipated by the gage.

A is the area of the grid of the gage.

Recommended power densities for different materials and different test con¬
ditions are given in Table 5.1.
A graph showing bridge supply or input voltage E, as a function of grid
area for a large number of different gage configurations is shown in Fig. 5.4.
The bridge voltage E, specified in Fig. 5.4 is for a four-equal-arm bridge with r
= 1. In this case, the bridge voltage is given by

E, = 2VAPj,Rg (5.4)

When r ^ 1, the bridge voltage is given by

E, = (1 + r)VAP^Rg (5.5)

TABLE 5.1 Recommended Po\A/er Densities

Power Density

W/mm^ Specimen Conditions

5-10 0.008-0.016 Heavy aluminum or copper sections

2-5 0.003-0.008 Heavy steel sections
1-2 0.0015-0.003 Thin steel sections
0.2-0.5 0.0003-0.0008 Fiberglass, glass, ceramics
0.02-0.05 0.00003-0.00008 Unfilled plastics
 5.4

(j'ui/M) A;!suap jsMOjj

■g
'86bi|Oa aepjjq 0|qBMO||v
aouBisjsaa u oz L
THE WHEATSTONE BRIDGE FOR STRAIN-GAGE SIGNAL GONDITIONING

Grid area (in,^) (gage-length X grid width)

199

Figure 5.4 Allowable bridge voltage as a function of grid area for different power densities. (Courtesy of Micro-
Measurements.)
 200 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

The power that can be dissipated by a gage will vary over very wide limits. A
small gage with a grid area of 0.001 in.^ bonded to an insulating material such
as a ceramic (P^, = 0.2 W/in.^) can dissipate 0.2 mW. On the other hand, a
large strain gage with A = 0.2 in.^ mounted on a heavy aluminum section (P^
= 10 W/in.^) can dissipate 2 W.
System sensitivity can be maximized by selecting high-resistance gages with
the largest grid area consistent with allowable errors due to gage-length and
gage-width effects. Specification of Isoelastic alloys to obtain Sg = 3.6 should
be limited to dynamic strain measurements where temperature stability of the
gage is not a consideration.
The second factor controlling system sensitivity is circuit efficiency r/(l -I- r).
The value of r should be selected to increase circuit efficiency, but not so high
that the bridge voltage given by Eq. (5.5) increases beyond reasonable limits.
Values of r between 4 and 9 give circuit efficiencies between 80 and 90 percent;
therefore, most bridges should be designed to fall within this range.

Case 2: This bridge arrangement contains a single active gage in arm R^, a
dummy gage in arm R , and fixed-value resistors in arms P3 and R^. The active
2

gage and the dummy gage must be identical (preferably two gages from the
same package), must be applied with the same adhesive, and must be subjected
to the same curing cycle. The dummy gage can be mounted in a stress-free region
of the specimen or on a small block of specimen material that is placed in the
same thermal environment as the specimen. In the Wheatstone bridge, the
dummy gage output serves to cancel any active gage output due to temperature
fluctuations during the test interval. The manner in which this bridge arrange¬
ment compensates for temperature changes can be illustrated by considering the
resistance changes experienced by the active and dummy gages during a test.
Thus

(a)

(b)
AT

In Eqs. (a) and (b) the subscripts a ands d refer to the active and dummy gages,
respectively, while the subscripts e and AT refer to the effects of strain and
temperature. Substituting Eqs. (a) and (b) into Eq. (4.22) and noting that AP3
= A/?4 = 0 (fixed-value resistors) gives

AP„
+ (5.6)
(1 + r)2 Rg / AT Rg / AT-.
5.4 THE WHEATSTONE BRIDGE FOR STRAIN-GAGE SIGNAL CONDITIONING 201

Since the last two terms in the bracketed quantity cancel, the output A£:„ is due
only to the strain applied to the active gage, and temperature compensation is
achieved.
With this bridge arrangement, r must equal 1 to satisfy the bridge balance
requirement; therefore, the system sensitivity obtained from Eq. (5.2) is

= (5.7)

Equation (5.7) indicates that placement of a dummy gage in arm R of the 2

Wheatstone bridge to effect temperature compensation reduces the circuit ef¬

ficiency to 50 percent. This undesirable feature can be avoided by use of the
bridge arrangement described under Case 3.

Case 3: In this bridge arrangement, the dummy gage is inserted in arm of

the bridge instead of in arm R . The active gage remains in arm R^ and fixed-
2

value resistors are used in arms R and R^. With this positioning of the dummy
2

gage r is not restricted by the balance condition and the system sensitivity is the
same as that given by Eq. (5.2). Temperature compensation is achieved in the
same manner that was illustrated in Case 2, but without loss of circuit efficiency.
Thus, if a dummy gage is to be used to effect temperature compensation, arm
R of the bridge is the perferred location for the gage.
4

Case 4: Four active gages are used in this Wheatstone-bridge arrangement:

one active gage in each arm of the bridge (thus, r = 1). When the gages are
placed on a specimen such as a cantilever beam in bending with tensile strains
on gages 1 and 3 (top surface of the beam) and compressive strains on gages 2
and 4 (bottom surface of the beam), then

_ A/?3 _ A7?2 _
(c)
R^ /?3 /?2 ^4

Substituting Eqs. (c) into Eq. (4.22) gives

^E O = E: (5.8)
R.

The Wheatstone bridge has added the four resistance changes to increase the
output voltage; therefore, the system sensitivity is

s. - \ = 2S^Vp;r, (5.9)
202 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

This arrangement (with four active gages) has doubled the system sensitivity of
Cases 1 and 3 and has quadrupled the sensitivity of Case 2. Also, this bridge is
temperature compensated. The use of multiple gages to gain sensitivity is not
usually recommended because of the costs involved in the installation of the
extra gages. High-quality, high-gain differential amplifiers can be used more
economically to increase the output signal.
Examination of the four bridge arrangements shows that the system sen¬
sitivity can be varied from 1/2 to 2 times Temperature compensation
is best achieved by placing the dummy gage in position R to avoid loss of system
4

sensitivity. System sensitivity can be improved by using multiple gages; however,

the costs involved for the added gaging is usually not warranted except for
transducer applications, where the additional gages serve other purposes (see
Chapter Six).

5.5 RECORDING INSTRUMENTS FOR STRAIN-GAGE

APPLICATIONS

The selection of a recording system for strain-gage applications depends

primarily upon the nature of the strain to be measured (static or dynamic) and
upon the number of strain gages to be monitored. Static recording of short-term
strain data is generally the easiest and least expensive. Static recording of long¬
term strain data can be very difficult when it is impossible to return to a bench¬
mark zero strain condition and long-term stability is required. Dynamic recording
is difficult and much more expensive because of noise problems that arise as a
result of the higher levels of signal amplification needed for dynamic recording
devices and because of the increased complexity of multichannel dynamic re¬
corders.
Many different recording instruments can be used to monitor the output of
the Wheatstone bridge. The reader is referred to Chapter Two where these
recorders are described in considerable detail. In this section, four different
instrumentation systems that have been adapted for strain-gage applications and
are frequently used in industry will be described.

Direct-Reading Strain Indicator

A strain indicator that employs an integrating digital voltmeter to record
the system output is shown in Fig. 5.5. This system contains a Wheatstone bridge
that is initially balanced by a potentiometer that serves as a parallel-balance
resistor. The voltage output from the bridge is amplified and then displayed on
a digital voltmeter. A constant-current power supply that can be adjusted to
match the power limit Pg of the gage is used to drive the bridge. System cali¬
bration is accomplished with shunt resistors. The output of the amplifier is
attenuated so that the digital voltmeter directly displays the strain.
 5.7 EFFECTS OF LEAD WIRES, SWITCHES, AND SLIP RINGS 219

Figure 5.16 Switching a large number of individual gages into arm of the Wheatstone
bridge with a single-pole switch.

A second switching arrangement is shown in Fig. 5.17. Here, a three-pole

switch is used to transfer terminals A, B, and D to the power supply and the
recording instrument. Terminal C of each bridge is grounded in common with
the power supply with a single common lead wire. Since none of the switches
are located within the bridge, switch resistance is not important; however, switch¬
ing the complete bridge is more expensive, since separate dummy gages and two
bridge completion resistors are required for each bridge.
A major disadvantage of all switching schemes is the thermal drift induced
by heating of the gages and resistors when power is suddenly applied to the
system. Depending upon the application, this drift may continue for a minute
or more after the switch is closed.

Slip Rings
When strain gages are used on rotating members, slip rings are often used
to complete the lead-wire connections, as shown in Fig. 5.18. The slip rings are
usually mounted on a shaft that can be attached to the rotating member so that
the axes of rotation of the shaft and member coincide. The outer shell of the
slip ring assembly is stationary and carries several brushes per ring to transfer
the signal from the rotating rings to terminals on the stationary shell. Satisfactory
operation up to speeds of 24,000 rpm is possible with a properly designed slip
ring assembly.
Brush movement and dirt collecting on the slip rings due to brush wear
tend to produce a change in resistance that can be reduced by using multiple
brushes in parallel. Even with multiple brushes, however, changes in resistance
between rings and brushes tend to be large; therefore, slip rings should not be
placed within the arms of the bridge. Instead, a complete bridge should be
assembled for each active gage on the rotating member, as shown in Fig. 5.18.
The slip rings should be used only to connect the bridge to the power supply
and the recording instrument. This arrangement minimizes the effect of resist-
 220 RESISTANCE-TYPE STRAIN GAGES

Figure 5.17 Switching several complete bridges into the power supply and recording
instrument with a three-pole switch.

ance change due to the slip rings and provides a means for accurately
recording strain-gage signals from rotating members.

5.8 ELECTRICAL NOISE

The output voltage from a Wheatstone bridge due to the resistance change
^R/R of a strain gage (or other transducer) is usually quite small (a few milli¬
volts). Because of this very small output voltage electrical noise is fre¬
quently a problem. Electrical noise occurs as a result of magnetic fields generated
by current flow in wires in close proximity to the lead wires or bridge, as shown
in Fig. 5.19. When an alternating current flows in an adjacent wire, a cyclic
magnetic field (frequently 60 Hz) is produced, which cuts both wires of the signal
circuit and induces a voltage (noise) in the signal loop. The magnitude of this
induced voltage (noise) is proportional to the current / flowing in the disturbing