Strain-sensitive materials have an electrical resistance proportional to strain and include metals such as foil/wire and semiconductors. A strain gage (or gauge) uses the material’s change in resistance to measure strain.
Reusable strain gauges, such as the PCB Model 740B02, require less setup than bonded strain gauges as they do not need a circuit arrangement. This video demonstrates the ease of setup using the ObserVR1000 data acquisition hardware.