Magnetoelasticity and Magnetostriction for Implementing Biomedical Sensors

Abstract

In this chapter, the physical principles underlying the phenomenologies arising from the magnetoelastic coupling occurring in materials exhibiting ferromagnetic order are first reviewed. From those principles, several generic designs of magnetoelastic sensors are discussed and, with special detail, that corresponding to resonant sensors. Finally, exemplary biomedical applications of magnetoelastic sensors to the measurement of the mechanical stress in bone fractures healing plates, sutures, and laryngeal muscles, the monitoring of the local curvature of epithelial tissues, the control of cell growth, and the measurement of blood coagulation kinetic parameters are reviewed. We conclude with a brief vision on the future perspectives of the magnetoelastic sensing technology and its biomedical applications. Although unexplored to date in the context of traumatically injured neural tissues, we hope these biomedical approaches, secondarily benefitting patients with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, could inspire advances in the field toward their implementation for neural scenarios.