The static and dynamic response of SU-8 electrothermal microgrippers of varying thickness

•Grippers of different thicknesses have been fabricated and tested.•Thermal camera imaging has been used to confirm the gripper temperature profile.•Effect of voltage and current on settling time and arm movement has been measured.•A COMSOL Multiphysics model matches the findings of the experimental results.

This work presents an investigation into the effect on dynamic response of SU-8 microgrippers due to varying thickness, and subsequent validation via COMSOL Multiphysics simulations and thermal camera profiling during actuation. The tweezer-like microgrippers can easily manipulate, with a high degree of control, cells and particles with diameters as small as 10 μm, without using an impractical operating voltage or generating excessive heat.However, in order to fully exploit the versatility of the devices, their response characteristics must be fully understood as material and/or dimension parameters change. Therefore an investigation took place to determine the effects of device thickness on functionality of the device, including the drive current required to actuate the gripper and the speed of actuation. Furthermore, an infrared camera was used to characterise the thermal response of the device. Finally, a simulation of the temperature profile and deflection dimension has been developed in order to verify the findings and further investigate and predict the effects of design variations.

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