SP1-Modeling
1 - Context and objective
In micro-object manipulations, surface forces are known to prevail on body forces.
The behaviour of micro-objects is difficult to predict because of our lack of knowledge
on the effect of those forces. Currently, when a micro-object is put down on a substrate
there is no way to know if it will stay on it or if it will glue to the manipulator finger.
Pull off forces (force needed to break the contact between two micro-objects) were studied
only for simple geometries but this is not enough to simulate micromanipulation or micro-assembly
tasks. Moreover, conventional models don't consider important parameters in the microworld such as roughness or hygrometry.
The main goal of this project is to develop simulation tools to help micromanipulation. An analytical
model will be developed for simple case and a finite element model will further be developed for more complex scenes.
Firstly those tools need a complete study of forces (van der Waals, electrostatic, capillarity) and existent models (JKR, DMT and etc.).
As the next step, simulation results will have to be compared with experiments of SP2 and literature.
2 - First model with the multiphysics finite element software COMSOL
Sphere-plane contact simulated with finite element model in Hertz conditions.
The results are close to theory.