Design And Fabrication Of Alumina Micro Reciprocating Engine

Microengines are regarded as the potential replacements for batteries. They may also provide an alternative to comb drives for MEMS devices. Because the thermal property of silicon is not satisfactory when it is used in the combustion chambers. Ceramics have been chosen as the construction material in this paper. The paper discusses the fabrication process where alumina has been chosen as the microengine material. Vigorous FEA has been carried out, and it is found that the material satisfies the stress and deformation requirements of the design. The paper then describes alumina fabrication process. Soft reusable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) moulds are produced from SU-8 resist masters, and alumina microengine parts have been produced using the PDMS moulds. Images of the ceramic components show that the fabrication satisfies the design requirements.