E. HRISTOFOROU et al.

: Pulse Width Effect on Amorphous Ribbons and Wires 391

phys. stat. sol. (a) 143, 391 (1994)

Subject classification: 75.70; S1.l

Technological and Educational Institution of Chalkis ‘) ( a ) and

Institute of Technicul Physics, Iasi’) ( b )

Pulse Width Effect on Magnetostrictive Amorphous Ribbons

and Wires
BY
E. HRISTOFOROU (b), and M. NEAGU
(a), H. CHIRIAC (b)

Results are presented concerning the dependence of magnetostrictive delay line (MDL) output on the
width of the exciting pulsed field, using Fe-rich amorphous ribbons and wires as delay lines. Such
a response is used to determine the optimum exciting pulse for maximum MDL sensitivity.

Les resultats sont present& de la dependance du signal de sortie dans la ligne de retardement
magnetostrictive (MDL) de la largeur d’impulsion du champ d’excitation, en utilisant comme material
pour ligne de retardement des bandes et de fils amorphes i base de Fe. Une telle reponse est utilist
pour determiner I’excitation optimke d’impulsion, de telle manitre que la sensibilite MDL soit
maximale.

1. Introduction

A number of sensors proposed by our group [l]are based on the magnetostrictive acoustic
delay line (MDL) operation and on the elastomagnetic properties of the recently developed
soft magnetic alloy ribbons and wires. They combine high magnetostrictive and elasto-
magnetic sensitivity, high saturation magnetization, and good soft magnetic properties
[2, 31.
In our experimental work in transducer conceiving, development, and optimization, some
properties or characteristics of MDLs had to be known and investigated in order to achieve
good signal quality, especially when MDL is to be used as an analog multiplexer [4]. These
characteristics of the MDL are: magnetoelastic uniformity, hysteresis, linearity, response
delay, dc magnetic field bias effect, reflections at the ends of the delay line, secondary wave
forms, pulse width wave form.
The above-mentioned delay line characteristics define the performance of our sensing
devices. So, improvement of these characteristics improves the performance of the MDL.
One important parameter for the MDL behaviour is the dependence of the MDL pulsed
voltage output on the duration of the exciting pulsed current, the so-called pulse width
effect. The determination of such a dependence is important in order to define the optimum
duration of the excitation field corresponding to the maximum MDL sensitivity as well as
to indirectly determine the frequency response.
In this paper, we present results on the pulse width effect concerning various magneto-
strictive materials used as MDLs, while in Section 4, Discussion, the relation of these results
with the MDL frequency response is illustrated.

’) Chalkis, Greece.
’) Splai Bahlui 47, P.O.B. 2027, R-6600Iasi 3, Romania.
392 E. HRISTOFOROU,
H. CHIRIAC,
and M . NEAGU

1 3

a
=J
------

time -
Fig. 1. Dclay line arrangerncnt: 1 exciting coil, 2 magnetostrictive delay line, 3 rcceiving coil

2. MDL Operation

The delay line arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 1. An exciting and a detecting coil are
set around the MDL. A pulsed current is transmitted through the insulated conductor.
Typical pulsed current width and period are 3 ps and 2 ms, respectively. The delay line
should be free of stresses, resulting in absence of strain on its surface. Such a delay line
arrangement can be modified for practical purposes concerning sensor applications, by
using a straight conductor as exciting pulsed current source.
When a pulsed current is transmitted through the exciting coil, a pulsed magnetic flux
having a similar wave form as the pulsed current is caused along the MDL anisotropy axis
and is added to any pre-existing magnetic flux into the MDL. Pulsed magnetic flux causes
a microstrain by means of small magnetization rotation (magnetostriction effect) which is
initially localized in a small region of the delay line, at the intersection with the straight
conductor. This region (active length) is defined by the amplitude of the applied field and
the geometry of the set-up. Such a microstrain causes an acoustic pulse, propagating in
both directions of the MDL. This pulse is proportional to the first derivative of the change
of the square of the magnetic flux density at the acoustic pulse origin (PO).
After the acoustic pulse is created at the PO, the delay line plays the role of a long,
rectangular acoustic waveguide. Ideally, the acoustic pulse is split into two acoustic waves
equal in amplitude and opposite in direction. The acoustic waves propagate with the
longitudinal sound velocity of the material, with a measurable attenuation. When an acoustic
wave reaches the end of the medium it is reflected and propagates in the opposite direction.
If a pressure is applied on the MDL during the acoustic wave propagation, an additional
attenuation occurs in it, dependent on the impinging material and the applied force on it,
so that a part of the acoustic wave continues to propagate, another one is reflected and a
third one is absorbed by the attaching material. The presence of internal nonlinearities
Pulse Width Effect on Magnetostrictive Amorphous Ribbons and Wires 393

(scattering centers, etc.) also results in consequent, rather randomly spread, acoustic
reflections, which cause a train of pulses following the main propagating signal.
Assuming that a dc magnetic field exists along the length of the delay line orienting the
magnetic moments, the propagating acoustic wave causes alteration of the magnetic flux,
proportional to the acoustic wave due to the inverse magnetostriction effect, which depends
on the magnitude of the dc field and the acoustic wave. For the case of an amorphous
magnetostrictive material there is no need to have a biasing field at the receiving point in
order to obtain a flux change as for the case of crystalline Fe or Ni wire delay lines. This
is because the coercive field of amorphous materials is lower than the earth field so that.
the ambient field can cause a magnetic flux, large enough to be used as biasing flux. The
presence of the passing magnetoelastic wave in the region of the receiving coil causes a
change of the magnetic flux in the MDL due to the inverse magnetostriction effect, which
is detected by the receiving coil by means of a pulsed voltage output, which is proportional
to the first derivative of the propagating elastic wave, within the region of the magnetic
material inside the detecting coil. Hence, assuming that the dc bias conditions are well
determined, the MDL pulsed voltage output determines the wave form of the propagating
elastic wave. The peak amplitude of this pulse, U , which is illustrated in Fig. 1, is regarded
as the peak output of all measurements presented in this paper.

3. Pulse Width Response

The pulse width response is defined as the dependence of the peak voltage output U , on
the time width of the pulsed current wave form. The pulsed current shape plays a significant
role in the shape of the magnetoelastic wave for such an MDL operation, since the induced
acoustic pulse is proportional to the first derivative of the square of its wave form. The
pulse width response of the Metglas 2605SC MDL has been investigated and the obtained
results are given in the following.

3.1 Experimental set-up

Two experimental set-ups were used. The first one is illustrated in Fig. 2. A 1 mm long coil
having 250 turns of 50 pm enameled copper wire was set around the delay line at a distance
d = 50 cm from the receiving coil. This coil was used to transmit the pulsed current which
was driven directly from a signal generator. The amplitude of the pulsed current was 50 mA.
An 18 kQ resistance was in series with the coil to reduce the effect of the change of the
resistance because ofthe pulse width change: since the pulse width was smaller, the bandwidth
of the pulse increased, so that the inductive resistance of the transmitting coil increased
and consequently the transmitted current decreased. The exciting pulsed current was

Fig. 2. Experimentalset-up: 1 delay

line, 2 exciting coil, 3 receiving coil,
4 resistance
394 E. HRISTOFOROU, and M. NEAGU
H. CHIRIAC,

Fig. 3. Normalized response of dependence of

Uon on the pulsed current width

monitored by this resistance and was equal to 50mA for all values of pulse width T , by
controlling the pulsed generator voltage output. Two small magnets were also placed close
to the two coils to maximize the output response. Another experimental set-up, similar to
the one of Fig. 2 was used, concerning the measurement of the pulse width function for 0.6,
1.0, 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 mm wide delay lines. To obtain such an experiment, we used the same
transmitting and receiving coils (6 mm wide ones).
We tested amorphous Fe,,,sSi,,sB15 ribbons and wires in the as-cast form and after
stress current annealing. Stress current annealing was obtained by passing 300 mA through
the MDL under 500 N/mm2 tensile stress. The thickness of the ribbons was 0.025 mm, their
width was varying from 0.5 up to 6 mm, while the diameter of wires was 0.125 mm. The
rectangular pulsed current I , had a rising and falling time equal to 50 ns.

0 2 4 6 8
TOJ4 -10 12

Fig.4. Dependence of U 0 on the pulsed current width for various widths of as-cast amorphous
,
Fe,,,,Si,,,B, ribbons
Pulse Width Effect on Magnetostrictive Amorphous Ribbons and Wires 395

- Fig. 5. Dependence of U o on the

pulsed current width for amorphous
Fe77,5Si7,5B15 wires, (a) as-cast, (b)
annealed
-

0 05 10 15
Tlpl -20 25

3.2 Experimental results

The normalized dependence of U, with respect to the maximum output UOmax on the time
width T of a rectangular pulsed current I,, having a rising and falling time equal to 50 ns
for a 1 mm wide delay line concerning stress current annealing ribbon is given in Fig. 3.
From this experiment, it is observed that the optimum pulsed current time width is 1.6 ps.
For pulsed current widths greater than 2.5 ps, the receiving signal starts to split up into
two signals. Fig. 4 shows the pulse width response for various ribbon MDL widths tested
in the as-cast form. The dependence of as-cast and annealed wires is illustrated in Fig. 5.
For pulsed current widths greater than 2 ps, the receiving signal starts also to split up into
two signals.

f *'Or---
I_ 100
>
E

25 A
20A
60 15 A
10A
40 t
2ol 5A
Fig. 6. Dependence of U o on the pulsed
current width for various values of pulsed
current I ,
2 4 6 8
T (ysl -10 12
396 E. HRISTOF~ROU, and M. NEACU
H. CHIRIAC,

Apart from these experiments we have tested the pulse width response of amorphous
ribbons, in the case of a straight pulsed current conductor orthogonal to the MDL. The
dependence of U , on the time width T of a pulsed current having the wave form shown
in Fig. I for various values I,, is given in Fig. 6 . For this set-up small field magnets were
also close to the PO and the receiving coil to maximize the M D L response. It was observed
that the optimum pulse width for the given current wave form is 3.4 ps. For this experiment,
the receiving signal starts being divided for T = 4 ps.

4. Discussion

The first observation which needs an explanation is the splitting of the MDL voltage output
into two signals. Such an effect occurs because the exciting magnetic flux practically remains
for some time in an unchanged position so that the mechanical strain due to the
magnetostriction effect becomes zero, until the next (falling) pulsed field edge comes into
action. As the mechanical strain is proportional to the first derivative of the exciting field,
it becomes zero for the case of constant field at the acoustic stress pulse origin. Consequently,
zero mechanical strain corresponds to constant value of the exciting pulsed current, which
occurs for the case of a long pulse width '7: This effect is undesirable for several delay line
applications, resulting in keeping the pulsed current width always less than 2 ps, obtaining
the maximum sensitivity as is determined by the experimental results for each tested
material.
Another important subject to be discussed is the phenomenon that the pulsed voltage
output decreases with the pulse width. This is in contradiction with the analytical expression
concerning the mechanical strain due to the magnetostriction effect. According to this effect,
the mechanical strain is proportional to the first derivative of the exciting pulsed magnetic
flux. Hence, a decrease of the width of the exciting current results in an increase of its first
derivative provided that the peak amplitude of the pulsed current remains unchanged, which
was a condition in our experiments. In such a case a decrease of pulse width results in an
increase of the amplitude of the pulsed voltage output. However, we observed the opposite:
up to a given decrease of the pulse width, the amplitude of the voltage increased, but after
a given width varying from one material to another, the M D L voltage output decreased.
This effect is explained by the fact that the magnetostrictive material has due to its inertia
a limited ability to follow the changes of the magnetic flux, when they are above a certain
limit. Such a limitation can generally be described as frequency response of the material,
which can be characterized by the bandwidth of the pulsed voltage signals.
Considering the frequency response of the tested magnetostrictive materials, another
experimental set-up is under preparation. The schematic arrangement of Fig. 2 is used as
the basis of this experiment. Instead of pulsed current, a sinusoidal signal is transmitted
through the exciting coil, while the ends of MDL are very well terminated in order to
eliminate any reflections at its ends. The amplitude of the MDL output is to be sinusoidal
in this case and its dependence on the frequency of the transmitted exciting signal determines
the MDL frequency response. As a matter of fact, the condition of absolute elimination of
acoustic reflections at the ends of the M D L is most important in determining the frequency
response by using such an experimental set-up. Preliminary resuls show a good agreement
with the results presented in this paper, while reports on the results of these measurements
are soon to be announced.
Pulse Width Effect on Magnetostrictive Amorphous Ribbons and Wires 397

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgements are due to the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council and The Brite-Euram
MAlE-0001-GR project, for partially funding this work.

References
[l] E. HRISTOFOROU, Ph. D. Thesis, University of London, 1991.
[2] H. CHIRIAC,F. BARARIU, and GH. POP,Soft Magnetic Materials Conf., Venice (Italy) 1993; J.
Magnetism magnetic Mater. (1994), to be published.
[3] H. CHIRIAC, GH. POP,F. BARARIU, and M. VASQVEZ, 38th Annual Conf. Magnetism and Magnetic
Materials, Minneapolis (USA) 1993; J. appl. Phys. (1994), to be published.
[4] E. HRISTOFOROU and R. E. RELLY, J. appl. Phys. 69, 5008 (1991).
(Received Februory 28, 1994)