Load Support Improvement on Superhydrophobic Surface in Lubricated-MEMS Using Numerical Investigation

Abstract

The development of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) faces a great challenge in commercial application with respect to lubrication issue recently. Short life time of lubricated MEMS is primarily caused by the failure of the lubrication. In this study, the use of superhydrophobic material applied on one or both of the opposing surfaces in lubricated MEMS was introduced to reduce this type of failure. The optimum parameter of the superhydrophobic effect that provides the greatest load support in MEMS was obtained using numerical analysis. A modified Reynolds equation combined with cavitation model was derived. The slip length model was used to address the superhydrophobic effect for the hydrodynamic analysis. It was shown that in the absence of the wedge effect, load support can be obtained using the superhydrophobic surface. In addition, the numerical analysis showed that the performance of MEMS using such surface depends on cavitation.