Observations of contact measurements using a resonance-based touch sensor

A study of the contact mechanisms between a resonator probe sensor and a broad range of engineering surfaces is presented. The resonator-based touch sensor used in these studies consists of a prismatic beam clamped at one end with a spherical probe attached at the other. Pairs of piezoelectric (PZT) elements cemented at either side of the beam along its axis are employed; one to actuate and the other to pick up the strain signals. Over a band of frequencies near to a resonance, the sensor behaves like second-order system. When oscillated near to its resonant frequency, interactions between the probe tip and specimen are detected by monitoring phase or frequency shifts using phase-locking techniques. As the probe approaches and contacts a surface, a range of phenomena are observed. Approximate theoretical models have been developed to predict the effects characteristic of added mass, stiffness, and damping (i.e., kinetic, potential and dissipative energy transfer) for contacts between clean solids and when contaminant films are present. These models predict that phase and frequency shifts can either increase or decrease depending upon the dominant phenomena in the contact region. For example, when a solid surface is contacted by a clean probe, the resonant frequency can either increase or decrease depending upon the ratio of elastic modulus to density, and this is demonstrated with contact measurements made on metals and rubbers. A systematic method for the identification of the dominant effect (if there is one) based on observations of frequency or phase shifts using either constant phase or constant frequency monitoring is presented. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.