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

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.