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Electro-thermal modeling and experimental validation for multilayered metallic microstructures

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Abstract

This paper proposes an electro-thermal modeling on multilayered metallic microstructures that are able to deploy vertically when thermally actuated. A typical design of such microstructures is presented, and the working principle is described. A lumped model is established to find the analytical solution to the temperature distribution when actuated by Joule heating, which shows a good agreement with the results from finite element analysis (FEA). Fabrication and experimental testing of the microstructure are followed, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and temperature-dependent electrical measurement are combined to determine the in-situ temperature when the microstructure is heated with a constant power of 0.56 mW in SEM. The peak temperature derived from the experiment is approximately 333 K, while the peak temperature simulated by the lumped model and FEA model are 330.99 and 331.85 K, respectively. The proposed multilayered microstructures show great potential for applications in microrobotic actuators, and the lumped model offers an effective tool for the design and optimization of such microstructures based on diverse requirements.

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Acknowledgements

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.11572248) and China Scholarship Council have in part supported the research. The research was in part carried out at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-SC0012704.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, USA

    Zhongjing Ren & Yong Shi

  2. School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

    Zhongjing Ren & Jianping Yuan

  3. Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, USA

    Sundeep Mangla

  4. Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, USA

    Chang-Yong Nam, Ming Lu & Samuel A. Tenney

  5. School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China

    Xiaoyu Su

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  1. Zhongjing Ren
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Correspondence to Zhongjing Ren.

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Ren, Z., Yuan, J., Su, X. et al. Electro-thermal modeling and experimental validation for multilayered metallic microstructures. Microsyst Technol 27, 2041–2048 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-020-04964-w

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