Abstract

The development of a novel micro-system integrating SU-8 polymer micro-grippers with a tensile force sensor for handling and characterizing the mechanical properties of delicate biological materials, such as fibrils, is presented. The micro-grippers are actuated by the electro-thermal effect and have gripping forces comparable to the common 'hot-and-cold-arm' grippers. A robust finite element model was developed to investigate system performance and validated experimentally. A new micro-mechanical calibration method using a piezoelectric manipulator with a micro-force measurement system was successfully applied to test the structure. Both FEA simulation and micro-mechanical testing results indicated that the system could fulfil the requirements for micro-object manipulation within a biological environment.

DOI

10.1088/0960-1317/23/1/015005

Publication Date

2013-01-01

Publication Title

JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING

Volume

23

Issue

1

Publisher

IOP Publishing

ISSN

0960-1317

Embargo Period

2024-11-22

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