The strain-gage transducer, sometimes referred to as a resistive transducer, is by far the most widely used type of pressure transducer.

Its electrical transduction elements operate on the principle that the electrical resistance of a wire is proportional to its strain-induced length. The strain-gage transducer uses the gage-factor property of the strain element to convert a mechanical displacement into a change in the electrical resistance of a circuit. Gage factor, defined as the unit change in resistance (R) per unit change in length (L), is expressed as: R/R L/L There are basically two classes of strain-gage transducers, unbonded and bonded. The unbonded strain gage uses a strain-sensitive wire (or wires) with one end fixed and the other end attached to a movable element. Strain, induced on the wire by the displacement of the movable element, produces a change in resistance proportional to the displacement of the movable element. The basic design of this type of transducer is illustrated in figure 1. GF =

Figure 1.An unbonded strain gage. Bonded strain-gage transducers (fig. 21) can be grouped into those that require an adhesive to fix the gage to the pressure-sensing element (metal foil and strainsensitive wires) and those attached to the strain-sensing element by techniques that effectively make the strain gage an integral part of the strain-sensing element (thin film and semiconductor). Thin film and semiconductor strain gages typically are

mounted directly on the pressure-sensing element. Metal foil and strain-sensitive wires commonly are mounted on a secondary sensing element, which acts as the deforming member to produce the strain sensed by the strain gage.

Figure 2.A bonded strain gage Metal foilStrain gages consist of wire or foil ribbon coated with a thin layer of insulation and cemented to the strain-sensing element. Distortion of the strainsensing element is communicated by the bonding material directly to the wire or foil filaments. Increasing the length of the gage reduces the cross-sectional area of the conductor and increases the conductor's resistance, causing a change in voltage, proportional to the pressure change, across the output leads. Thin filmStrain gages employ a metal substrate on which are deposited thin films as an insulation layer and a resistor layer, using either a vacuum-deposition or sputtering process. The strain gage is either masked onto or etched into the thin film resistor layer, making the gage an integral component of the strain-sensing element. The strain gage can be deposited directly onto sensing elements of any configuration, such as diaphragms, beams, or tubes.

SemiconductorStrain gages are similar to the thin-film strain gages in that the strain-gage circuit is an integral part of the strain member. In integrated silicon strain-gage pressure transducers, the strain elements are diffused directly into the pressure-sensing element, becoming "atomically" bonded to the sensing member. Because silicon is virtually 100 percent elastic to the breaking point, this type of transducer exhibits very little hysteresis. Because gage factors in these types are in some cases more than 50 times greater than those of wire gages, signal output is high, which commonly eliminates the need for signal amplification.