Technical feasibility of a three-axis force transducer for measuring pressure and friction on the model die surface - prototype development

A new transducer for measuring normal and shear stress in physical modellin g was designed and tested. From many methods of contact stress measurements , a local approach based on pin load cell was chosen. The sensing element e mployed was a stack of piezoelectric plates which measured three components of the force directly. The design process included a study of piezoelectri city in various materials, designing a prototype transducer and choosing an appropriate electronic circuit. The piezoelectric stack and the whole tran sducer were tested using a calibration rig capable of applying the normal a nd tangential force independently. Calibration results confirmed the suitab ility of the adopted concept and provided guidelines for proper design of t he final transducer. In particular, a new calibration procedure was propose d which took into account interactions between the measured force component s. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.