Silicon carbide reinforced vertically aligned carbon nanotube composite for harsh environment mems

Fabricating high-aspect-ratio (HAR) structures with silicon carbide (SiC) is a challenging task. This paper presents a silicon carbide (SiC) reinforced vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) composite as a promising candidate to fabricate HAR MEMS devices for harsh environment applications. The use of a VACNT array allows the fast...

Self-Aligning and Self-Calibrating Capacitive Sensor System for Displacement Measurement in Inaccessible Industrial Environments

High-precision positioning often requires high speed and high resolution displacement measurements in order to compensate for the small vibrations of critical components. The displacement sensor must be precise and stable over a long period of time to avoid expensive recalibration. This requires tight mounting tolerances, which are especially...

Active Positioning and Passive Fixation using Friction: in Capacitive Displacement Measurement Applications

Sensor positioning is critical for achieving a measurement accuracy in the picometre range with capacitive displacement sensors. This thesis discusses the contradictory requirements that the sensor alignment application imposes: motion capability combined with extreme displacement stability. In addition, it explores three micrometre scale...

Micro-electro-mechanical actuators using confined polymers

Polymers can be used to constitute "artificial muscles" that actuate under an electric stimulus. These polymers include dielectric elastomers and thermally expandable polymers. They are insulating and relatively compliant. Their electric activation is enabled with integration of electrodes, heat conductors or heaters. However, the electrodes or...