A Novel Magneto--Elastic Force Sensor Design Based On Terfenol-D

In this paper the magneto-elastic-effect is taken under further investigation, to determine the utility of the novel material Terfenol-D in force sensor applications. By the reason that Terfenol-D has one of the largest magnetostrictive constant known we anticipated to get a higher sensitivity of the force sensor as compared to other materials e.g. steel. A simple and robust single coil sensor set-up is introduced. The dependency on the characteristic parameter of this set-up the reluctance Rm is determined vs. both the mechanically applied force and vs. the frequency of the excitation signal. These parameters are needed to determine the optimal trade-off between the sensitivity and the dynamic behaviour of the sensor. A prototype of the electronic to measure force by measuring the inductance L of the single coil sensor set-up is presented. The capability of the sensor set-up is demonstrated by quasi-static compressive force steps in the range of 0.1 - 2 kN.