Capillary Forces in Microassembly

Capillary Forces in Microassemblydiscusses the use of capillary forces as a gripping principle in microscale assembly. Clearly written and well-organized, this text brings togetherphysical conceptsat the microscale with practical applications in micromanipulation. Throughout this work, the reader will find a review of the existing gripping principles, elements to model capillary forces as well as descriptions of thesimulation and experimental test benchdeveloped to study the design parameters. Using well-known concepts from surface science (such as surface tension, capillary effects, wettability, and contact angles) as inputs to mechanical models, the amount of effort required to handle micro-componentsispredicted. These developments arethen appliedin a case studyconcerningthe pick and place of ballsin awatch ball bearing. Researchers and engineers involved in micromanipulation and precision assembly will find this a highly useful reference formicroassembly system design and analysis.