Evaluation of macro sized metal based microgrippers for handling microcomponents

This work presents evaluation of macro sized metal based microgrippers of various shapes such as circular, square and rectangular, which can hold circular, square and rectangular microcomponents respectively. The developed microgrippers can be used effectively as a holding device in mechanical environments and also in the assembly of microcomponents. Microgrippers are designed and analyzed using SOLIDWORKS and COMSOL Multiphysics respectively. Fabrication of microgrippers are carried out using direct metal laser sintering process with six gripping arms to prevent the slipping of the microcomponents during handling. The microgrippers were actuated by means of specially designed actuation system. The fabricated microgrippers are characterized for gripping displacements and gripping forces and the results are compared with that of the simulation and analytical results. It is observed that the displacements of the gripping arms of the fabricated microgrippers are four times higher than that of the input displacements of the actuator. This is found to be in the higher order than that of reported in the literature. Further, the circular based microgrippers were tested in micro-drilling and micro-welding as micro-chuck and micro-electrode holder respectively and they are found to be working satisfactorily.