UDC: 539.

377, 621-75
A temperature calibration of a temperature/strain
transducer based on two strain gauges
by P. Cappa, Department ofMechanics ami Aeronautics, University of Rome "La Sapienza", 00184 Roma, ltaly. an d K.
McConnell and L. Zachary, Depmtment Aerospace Eng. ami Eng. Mechanics, Jowa State University, Ames, lA 50011, U.S.A.
Abstract
The operation of a temperaturelstrain transducer, ca/led
"duplex gauge ", based o n two electrical resistance stra in
gauges, that are temperature compensateli for use on
materials with d{tferent coe.fficients of linear expansion,
was hrie.fly reca/led. Three steel specimens w ere equipped
with "duplex gauges" and were subjected to temperature
variations and no externalloads were applied. The chosen
experimental setup (i) t o measure the outputs gauge
temperature compensateli .for steel and titanium silicate
aru/ (ii) to impose known temperature, assured good
accuracy ami precision in evaluation the temperature
calibration curve. The obtained results slwwed that the
strain d(tferences could be considered, at least .for the
experimental arrangement examined, a linear.function
temperature over the range 20 to over 140C. The
prepared calihration chart, tlwt allows the correction
temperature induce d apparent strain, w i !l be used in.future
research when generic temperature and stra in .field.1 are
applied to specimens.
Key words: Electric resistance duplex strain gauges,
temperature effecto.;, calibration.
Nomenclature

r . 2
AT
T
T
r
thermal coefficient of the strain gauge
l 2
thermal expansion coefficient for the mounting
materia! A <md B
resistmKe thermal coeftlcient for the strain gauge
l and 2
temperature chm1ge from reference temperature
T,
actual strain
stra.in measured by the gauge l m1d2 m1dcorrected
from the effects caused by Wheatstone bridge
unlinearity, unsymmetricalleadwire temperature
distribut.ion, zero-shift of the digitai strain meter
input imposed by a Wheato.;tone bridge calibration
uni t
output meao.;ured by the strain system when the
inputs are Eliu. liu
strain meao.;ured by the gauge l <md 2
duplex gauge" output
gauge factor for the strain gauge l m1d 2
gauge factor for the strain gauge l m1d 2 at the
reference temperature
temperature
reference temperature (24C)
'Strain ', November 1993
lntroduction
A well known cause of both systematic and random error
in elecuical resistance strain gauge outputo.; is the effect of
temperature variation on the apparent stra.in The most
common procedure employed to correct the temperature
induced apparent strain an the gauge factor variation is to
use the temperature ao.; meao.;ured by a separate sensor.
When a strain gauge is applied on a materia! with a
different thermal coefticient, the apparent strain versus
!oca! temperature rotates about the reference temperature
at 24C. This phenomenon wao.; utilised by Poor m1d
Kesterson
1
to measure the tl1ermal expansion of solids in
the temperature range from -50 to 175C. The technique,
illusuate earlier
2
, use two strain gauges with one applied
on a specimen of a reference materia!, i.e. a substance for
which the expansion properties were accurately known
over the temperature nmge of interest, m1d tlle second on
a specimen ofthe testmaterial. In a previous paper:< a simple
transducer, called "duplex gauge", was proposed to
simultaneously meao.;ure both temperature and strain by
reducing t11e outputs of two strain gauges that were
temperature compensated for use on the test materia! and
with a materia! with different coeftcients of linear
expansion. The proposed temperature/strain trm1sducer
simply required a two strain indicator without
interface sigm conditionmg networks that would be
generally used for bondable resistance temperature sensors
4
to provide a Iinear to attenuate the
change slope to a convenient value (lO or 100
11m/m/C), and, finally, to presenta b<ance 350 (l half-
bridge circuii to the strain indicator. However, the main
Jimitation on the use of "duplex gauges" in non-automatic
data acquisition systems is the necessity of a strain gauge
output reduction to detennine the lncal temperature. The
preliminary experimental results, reported previously
3
m1d conducted by me<ms of a thermoregulated oven that
used a fan circulated air method, indicated that the
temperature could be ev<uated satisfactorily from the
strain output difference, Edg" From tl1e
emerged the necessity of a more accurate evaluatmn ot the
E versus temperature relationship that is the objective of
b" d l
the present paper. The test spectmens are su .Jecte to on y
temperature changes by using an oil thermoregulated oven
capable of assuring a gradient < 0.1 C, m1d particular
attention is adopted both in experiment' procedure m1d
se tu p.
Theoretical model for measuring both stra in and
temperature
The simple theoretical method described earlier : is rec<led
brietly for convenience in this paper. When a gauge l is
135
designed to work with a materia! A the mea'>ured strain E
1
,
a-; is well known, is:
(l)
The reterence gauge factor is determined by calibration
at the reference temperature T, =24C .
Similarly, ifgauge 2 is design ed for materh B the mea'>ured
strain E
2
is:
E =[Yz +Fz -a2)]AT+(l_)E
2
F; F;
= ET2 +(:;}E
(2)
However, when gauge 2 is applied on a materia! A instead
ofmaterir B forwhich itis designed, equation (2) becomes:
which can be written as
It is a-;sumed that both gauges are applied to the same
surface point so that it can be assumed that they are
subjected to the same strain and temperature fields.
Subtracting E
1
from E
2
gives:
(5)
(
l_- _) . E
p* p*
2 l
Equation (5) contains ali of the factors that affect the
different readings. l t is clear that if the ratios ofF/F
2
*
F/F
1
* be considered the srune, then this strain difference
depend-; only on temperature since E
11
ET
2
are known
functions of temperature o n their respective design materhs
of A and B. The gauge factor ratio F/F
2
is known ru1d the
materia! thennal coefticients of expansion are known.
Then, i t is possible t o detennine the surface temperature T
sin ce
T=T,+AT (6)
Once T is known, then, the surface strain cm1 be crculated
from either equation (l) or equation (4).
Experimental procedure and results
T o experimentally detennine the relationship between the
"duplex gauge" output E
2
-E
1
and the local mea
temperature, three duplex gauges were applied to three
specimens (l00mmxl50mmx2.5nun) of l 018 steel. O ne of
136
the two gauges of each "duplex gauge" was compensated
in temperature for the specimen materia!, the other was
compensated for titanium silicate. The second gauge was
selected to both magnify the E
2
contribution an d to simplify
equation (5)

0).
Nickel-chromium alloy foil type strain gauges, that are
generally suggested for high performance self-temperature
compensated use, fully encapsulated in glass fibre
reinforced epox y phenolic resi n, w ere chosen for this work
The chosen strain gauges (gauge length: 3.18 mm; grid
width 3.18 mm; nominai resistance: 350 O) are ali from the
same batch. The adhesive used to bond the strain gages was
a two component solvent thinned epoxy phenolic which,
for long term measurement<;, had a temperature range from
-269 to 260C, and wa<; utilised in accordance with the
manufacturer' s recommendations. Gauge terminals and
high temperature lead wires w ere spot welded to connectors
that were fixed to specimens by welding anchor clips.
A quarter Wheat-;tone bridge using a three wire lead
system wa'> used. The lead wire had a 0.4 mm diruneter and
approximately 0.2 m of the 1.0 m wire length wa'i in the
temperature chrunber. The lead wires were twisted so that
each wire saw the srune temperature environment. The
gauges were connected to a digitai strain me tre after they
were cured and post cured. Three complete temperature
cycles of20 to 200C (125 per centofthe chosen maximum
test temperature of::: 160C) w ere used to check the stage of
the adhesive cure. The mem;urement of the gauge insulation
resistru1ce gave agood picture of the mechanical properties
of the adhesive layer. The resistance between the gauge
grid and the specimen wa-; mea-;ured at the beginning and
end of each temperature cycle. If the gauge installation
exhibited a shift in the zero reading larger than 0.2 per cent
of the measured maximum strains or if the insulation
resistance was <100 Mn
6
the gauge wa-; removed and
replaced.

l"llllllllur
l O 1 O sleel !peciJn('n 1
l
:: T(' :
p SG .' ...... .2 .....
Slrnln
calillralion
unii
Elrd!'onic Manual poinl
tu poinl sei(!'C'lor
D1J..tllnl lligilnl l'lltnin
\ol!tudtr IH<'lt't'
Fig. 1 Schematic of the experlmentaltest seiup.
When the observed behaviour of the "duplex gauge"
installation was judged acceptable, i t wa-; connected to a
manual point selector (HBM UMK10) and a digitai strain
me tre (HBM DMD20A), see Fig. l.
'Strain', November 1993
The local temperature Tic at the "duplex gauge" location
was monitored by a chromel alumel tbennocouple spot
welded to the specimen area examined by the gauges. The
thennocouple was connected to an ice point and a digitai
voltmeter (HP 3478A), accuracy:(0.02 per cent + 40
counts).
The specimens were heated in a thennoregulated oven
that used oil forced convection capable of assuring a
spatial gradi e n t< O .l o c an d no extemalloads w ere applied
during the tests. The room temperature condition was
taken to obtain the zero for the strain readings; the room
temperature varied over a range of about 18-25C. The
tests were carried out in increments of = 10C t'rom the room
temperature, and, to assure a unifonn temperature
distribution in the specimen, data were recorded l O minutes
after reaching the selected temperature. The maximum
value of temperature investigated was of 153.5C.
Themetrological performance ofthe selected strain system
wasimproved byreducing theeffect<>caused by Wheatstone
bridge non-linearity, zero shift phenomenon, and
unsymmetrical lead wire temperature distribution by
utilising a Wheatstone bridge calibration uni t (MM l550A)
during each test. The calibration unit was characterised by
an accuracyof(0.025percent+ lj.llilim) and wa'> connected
to tbe manual point selector, see Fig. l, with lead wires that
were identica\ (in type, in total length. and in length
immersed in the oil temperature chamber) to those utilised
for the gauges.
A correction factor was needed to correct the observed
strains E
1
1
and e'
2
for lead wire and non-linear effecK In
order to achieve these corrections the following procedure
wac,; adopted.
l. Switch the manual point selector to read strain gauge
outputs (E'
1
, E
1
2
).
2. S witch the selector to connect the calibration uni t and set
values (Elin'E
2
in) that are dose to the strain gauge outputs
and read the digita\ strain metre readout (E
1
.,.
1
,E
2
.,
111
).
3. Evaluate the calibration coefficient.
4. Correct strain reading value to obtain the best estimate
of the actual strain (el' E
2
).
Thus,
(7)
The effectiveness of the chosen experiment.' procedure
emerges from an examination of Fig.2 where "duplex
gauge" outputs, both uncorrected :md corrected, are shown
as a function of local temperature T te meao;ured by the
thennocouple.
The results of the experimental analysis carrie out to
fits the collected experimental data, it was assumed that,
l. the uncertainties a<;sociated to T
1
, could be safely ig-
nored; and,
2. the Ectg values were govemed by the Gauss istribution
with the same width parameter for all the values.
1200
o 900
-
.
E
"
E 600
300
c., corrected
E. , uncorrected
t 2 corree\ ed
C. 2 uncorrected

Ttc (C)
Fig. 2 Comparison al the strain gauge outputs, uncorrected and corrected
by a Wheatstone bridge calibrallon unii, as a lunctlon al local
temperature measured by the lhermocouple In one al the tests carried
aut . e
1
ls the straln output relative to the gauge seW-compensated In
temperature far steel; e
2
ls the strain output relative lo the gauge seW-
compensated in temperature far tnanium silicate.
1200
1050
900
;:? 750
L bOO
" E
450
JOO
150
60 BO 100
Ttc (C)
Fig.3 Duplex gauge outp: as a functlon al local temperature measured by
the thermocouple.
The bes t estimates for the constant<; A an d B of the straight
line relationship given by,
E =A+BT
dg le
(8)
were evaluated by the lea-;t squares metho The analysis
gave,
an B =
The uncertainties in constants A and B are:
crA=3.2j.UI1/m <1.4 percent cr
8
=3.2 I0-
2
J..t.m/mfOC
<0.3 percent
The linear correlation coefficient r is,
calibrate the "duplex gauge" are sum.marised in Fig.3 r = 0.994
where the eds = e
1
- e
2
values t'rom equation (5) are plotted
asafunction ofTtc. In ordertofin the beststraightlinethat I t is observe that the Ectg values at temperatures of 40 <m
'Strain', November 1993 137
124C appear to significantly disagree with the generai
data trend.
A comparison of the linear relationship obtained experi-
mentally a' described by equation (8) with equation (5)
suggests that the ftrst terms in equation (5), E,-
2
-En, corre-
spond to constant A in equation (8) while the second
bracketed term inequation (5), F
2
~ A - ~
5
)/F
2
, corresponds
to the slope B in equation (8). This convenient linear
relationship ailows one to predict the surface temperature
on which the duplex gauge is mounted. Once this
temperature is known, then equation (l) can be used to
measurethemateriai'struestrainEinthepresenceofthermal
strains gi ven by E,-
1
Moreover, to corree t the effects caused
by test area temperature variations from Tr w ben 2-element
and 3-element rosettes are utilised only one further strain
gauge, with highly mismatched thermai characteristics,
ha' to be applied aiigned with one of the rosette gauges.
Conclusions
The relationship between the strain difference measured
by a "duplex gauge" transducer an d the specimen' s surface
temperature is shown to be considered a linear function for
the gauges employed in this experiment on a steel specimen
where one gauge is temperature compensated for steel and
the other gauge temperature compensated for titanium
silicate. The specimen' s s urface temperature can be easily
isolated from this linearrelationship. Once the temperature
is known, the specimen's strain due to load can be easily
138
TECHNIMEASURE
STRAIN GAUGES TRANSOUCERS
POTENTIOMETERS INDICATORS
STRA/N GAUGES
* FOIL and WIRE
* ADHESIVES & COATINGS
* LEAD WIRES & TERMINALS
* MOST GAUGES EX-STOCK
* SPECIAL GAUGES INCLUDE:-
~ -
. -'
WELDABLE
INTEGRAL LEAD
HIGH YIELD
WATERPROOF .1.. .1.
RESIDUAL STRESS l b" \
BOLT GAUGE 9'4 ~ . , . ,
TEMPERATURE
EMBEDMENT
PLASTICS
CRYOGENIC
... '\
. "'
isolated from this linear relationship. Once the temperature
is known, the specimen's strain due to load can be easily
extracted using equation (l) where the combined thermai
and structurai strain relationship is well known. The
calibrati o n curve so determined will be used in an incoming
research project where duplex gauges will be subjected to
temperature variation in a generai state of surface strain.
References
l. Poore W.K., Kesterson K.F. "Measuring the thermal
expansion of solids with strain gauges", Journai ofTesting
and Evaiuation, ASTM, 6, 2, (1978), 98-102.
2. Anon. "Measurement of thermai expansion coefficient
using strain gauges'', MeasurementGroup TechnicaiNotes,
'IN-513, Raleigh, NC, (1986).
3. Cappa P., De Rita G., McConnell K., Zachary L. "Using
strain gauges to measure both strain and temperature"
SEM Spring Conference on Experimental Mechanics,
Milwaukee Wl, June 10-13, (1991), 466-470. Accepted
for publication in Experimental Mechanics.
4. Anon. "Bondable resistance temperature sensors and
a'sociated circuitry", Measurement Group Technicai Notes,
'IN-516-1, Raieigh, NC, (1984).
5. Chalmers G.F. "Materiais, construction, performance
and characteristics" Strain Gauge Technology, Applied
Science Publishers, (1983),1-39.
6. Dally J.W., Riley W.F. "Experimental stress analysis",
McGraw Hill, New York, (1978).
TRANSDUCERS
* LOAD * ACCELERATION
- ........
....
1
-..... ,
- .
'S>
/ /
* DISPLACEMENT * PRESSURE
l
v
TECHNIMEASURE
Alexandra BuUdlngs, 59 Alcestet Road, TeL 0527 854103
Studley, Warwlckshlre 880 7NJ Fax. 0527 853267
'Strain', Novemher 1993