Mechanical Stress Dependence of the Switching Field in Amorphous Microwires

Glass-coated magnetic microwires belong to a unique rank among materials that have high potential to be used in new technologies. We have studied the possibility to employ amorphous bistable microwires as a sensor for bending of carbon fiber composite. The measurement of switching time instead of switching field drastically increases the sensitivity of such sensors up to 380% for positive bending and 125% for negative bending. The results show that microwires applied on the surface structures of the materials can be used as sensors of mechanical stresses or bending.