Development of a single-stage nano indenter

Charles Fernandes, Allen Gabriel

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/101088 Copy

Description

Title

Development of a single-stage nano indenter

Author(s)

Charles Fernandes, Allen Gabriel

Issue Date

2018-04-26

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ferreira, Placid M.

Department of Study

Mechanical Sci & Engineering

Discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

MEMS stage, Comb drive

Abstract

The current work seeks to understand the functionality of a single degree-of-freedom stage in a MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical system) platform that enables very precise displacement as well as force control. This type of stage finds use in determining fluid properties such as viscosity; to determine the strength and rigidity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and monolayers of graphene and for mechano-transduction in cellular mechanics and extracellular matrix. The current design is shown to produce a displacement of 39 μm and is capable of applying a theoretical maximum force of 260 μN. The study explores in detail the testing and analysis of the device without delving into great detail about the initial design and fabrication of the device itself. Much work was done to properly interface this MEMS device to the external world using connectors and a signal processing circuit in a custom-built PCB for improved noise reduction and enhanced signal strength. A capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) IC, AD7747 is used for reading the capacitance signals from the MEMS device. The AD7747 uses I2C communication protocol and Arduino ATmega 2560 was used to read the data generated by the IC. Moreover, image processing techniques were employed to track displacements down to 1 μm. The data from the image processing analysis along with data from AD7747 was used to characterize the devices for change in capacitance and displacement with respect to applied DC voltage.

Graduation Semester

2018-05

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101088

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2018 Allen Gabriel Charles Fernandes

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