Zero-biased magnetoelectric composite Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9/Ni/Pb(Zr1−x,Tix)O3 for current sensing

• The composite Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9/Ni/Pb(Zr1−x,Tix)O3 is presented for current sensing.
• Zero-biased output voltage for FeCuNbSiB/Ni/PZT is ~8.25 times than that of Ni/PZT.
• Zero-biased current sensitivity for FeCuNbSiB/Ni/PZT is ~7.9 times larger than that of Ni/PZT.
• The zero-biased current sensitivity of FeCuNbSiB/Ni/PZT for measuring 50 Hz current is 330 mV/A.

This paper presents a sensitive electric current sensor employing a magnetoelectric (ME) composite with a large zero-biased ME response. The composite consists of the Fe-based nanocrystalline alloy Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 (FeCuNbSiB) foils with positive magnetosriction, a Nickel (Ni) plate with negative magnetostriction and a piezoelectric Pb(Zr1−x,Tix)O3 (PZT) plate. Due to the different magnetic characteristics between FeCuNbSiB and Ni (such as permeability, saturation magnetization and magnetostriction), an internal magnetic bias field are formed in the compound magnetostrictive layer FeCuNbSiB/Ni. Consequently, by coupling the vortex magnetic field around a current-carrying cable, the proposed sensor has a large output voltage and electric current sensitivity without additional DC bias magnetic field. The experimental results indicate that the maximum zero-biased ME voltage and current sensitivity for FeCuNbSiB/Ni/PZT are ∼8.25 times and ∼7.9 times larger than those of hysteretic Ni/PZT composite, respectively. As measuring 50 Hz electric current in power-line, the proposed sensor has a giant zero-biased current sensitivity (330 mV/A) and excellent linearity. The proposed miniature sensor can be used for power-line current measurement.