Experimental Study of Load-Bearing Characteristics of Working Element of Thermal Microactuators

A method of measuring the load-bearing characteristics of beams of the thermal microactuators subjected to the test loading is considered. The method is implemented using a high-precision balance and goniometer. The test series were performed, and peak load values arising at the cantilever tail of the microactuator’s beam are obtained experimentally. The load-bearing characteristics vs thicknesses of the vacuum-deposited metal and polyimide in the microactuator groove are studied, and the degradation of load-bearing capabilities is investigated under the multicyclic beam deflection of the thermal microactuators with the controlled content of nanotubes and without them.