Bias free magnetomechanical coupling on magnetic microwires for sensing applications

Abstract

In the present paper, we report a systematic study of the magnetoelastic resonance of amorphous magnetic microwires of composition Fe73Si11B13Nb3. The study was performed for samples annealed at different temperatures. It was observed that such microwires present the key feature of performing magnetoelastic resonance in the absence of applied field. This fact, in addition to their small size, gives the microwires unique advantages over the widespreaded ribbons, currently in use as magnetoelastic sensors. Beyond the study of the resonance, magnetic properties of the samples were studied by means of Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) measurement in order to find an explanation to their bias-free resonance property. Finally, we show two possible applications of microwire based magnetoelastic sensors, a fluid density sensor and a mass-loading sensor.