Features of electron transport in Hf–Ta–Ti strain-gauge alloys: The role of chemical disorder and crystal anisotropy

This study examines prospects for developing new strain-gauge alloys based on the Hf–Ta–Ti system, including their synthesis, crystal and electronic structures, and electron-transport anomalies under hydrostatic compression and uniaxial strain. The developed alloys exhibited anomalously high gauge factors (GF = 4.52–5.62), 2–3 times those of the commercial strain-gauge alloys constantan and nichrome. The gauge factor varied nonadditively with elemental composition. All the alloys exhibited near-zero Seebeck coefficients relative to copper (approximately –0.5 μV/K). A satisfactory correlation was found between GF and elastic anisotropy in the studied system. The strong chemical disorder characteristic of this class of multicomponent (high-entropy) solid solutions results in high electrical resistivity with low temperature coefficients of resistance (10–300 ppm/K) and pronounced interband s–d scattering. These transport mechanisms account for the anomalously strong effect of strain (hydrostatic compression and uniaxial tension) on the electrical conductivity of the studied alloys. The anomalous strain-gauge response is shown to arise primarily from a substantial change in the Debye temperature caused by anisotropic deformation of the crystal lattice.

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