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Friction and wear study of the hemispherical rotor bushing in a variable capacitance micromotor

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Abstract

Friction and wear are the most serious problems for micromotors in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). In the paper, a linear-sliding wear model of the contact between the rotor bushing and the ground plane is presented to describe the wear and a corresponding simplified method is proposed to simulate the wearing process. The effects of geometry parameters, material properties and applied operating conditions on the evolution of dimensional and volumetric wear rates and frictional torques are explored for normally loaded rotating rotor bushing sliding on the ground plane. A hemispherical-bushing-on-ground-plane configuration finite element model (FEM) is set up and the implementation of the contact task based on ANSYS and the contact element approach is introduced to provide the numerical simulations acted as a guide to solution of the contact problems in micromotors. Numerical simulations and results of the wear rates, frictional torques, contact stresses and contact pressure are studied and the effects of roughness, material properties, geometry parameters and FEM mesh of the bushing and the ground plane are discussed. It is indicated that the nonlinear effects cannot be ignored and the results should not be used to predict the absolute wear lifetime whereas surface engineering, lower wear materials and rational designs for micromotors in MEMS should be applied to bring the friction and wear behaviors into the acceptable regimes.

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Acknowledgements

This project is supported by National Outstanding Youth Foundation of People’s Republic of China under grant No.10325209. The authors are grateful to Dr. K.X. Wei and J. B. Zhou for their fruitful suggestions and discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Vibration, Shock& Noise, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, People’s Republic of China

    Wen-Ming Zhang & Guang Meng

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  1. Wen-Ming Zhang
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  2. Guang Meng
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Correspondence to Wen-Ming Zhang.

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Zhang, WM., Meng, G. Friction and wear study of the hemispherical rotor bushing in a variable capacitance micromotor. Microsyst Technol 12, 283–292 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-005-0064-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-005-0064-0

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