Static Deflection and Pull-In Instability of the Electrostatically Actuated Bilayer Microcantilever Beams
Abstract
This paper deals with the static behavior of an electrostatically actuated bilayered microswitch on the basis of the modified couple stress theory. The beam is modeled using Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and equivalent elastic modulus and length scale parameter are presented for the bilayer beam. Static deflection and pull-in voltage of the beam is calculated using numerical and analytical methods. The numerical method is based on an iterative approach while the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) is utilized for the analytical simulation. Results show that there is a very good agreement between these methods even in the vicinity of the pull-in instability. Moreover, the effects of different parameters such as thicknesses of layers and length scale parameter on the static deflection and instability of the microcantilever are studied. Results show that for the cases with the equivalent length scale parameter comparable to the thickness of beam, the size-dependency plays significant roles in the static behavior of the bilayer microcantilevers.
