Simultaneous measurement of the temperature and force using a steel cantilever soldered with a partially nickel coated in-fibre Bragg grating

A method for the simultaneous, independent measurement of temperature and force using a single in-fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors was proposed and demonstrated. The FBGs were partially metallized using a partial nickel coating method. A Bragg reflex peak was successfully divided into two reflex peaks during the partial nickel plating process. The metallized part of the FBG was soldered on a steel cantilever, and the non-metallized part hanged in air. Using a structure that is composed of the steel cantilever soldered with a dual-wavelength FBG, the temperature and pressure can be simultaneously measured and discriminated. The metallized part of the FBG is highly temperature-sensitive (about 26.1 pm/°C), and for the non-metallized part the original Bragg wavelength of the FBG remains unchanged. The force sensitivity of the metallized part which soldered on the cantilever remained at 82 pm/N from 30 to 90 °C.