This manuscript presents the capable use of 3D printing technology in MEMS and MEMS support devices.  The latest generation of 3D printing technology has shown impressive capabilities, and more serious applications are becoming available to this technology.  The serving example of this study is a 3D printed MEMS-scale mechanical vibration isolator.  Mechanical vibration isolation is an important element for many traditional MEMS devices, such as MEMS inertial sensors and micro-optics, deployed in harsh environments, such as aerospace and automotive applications.  Without suitable vibration isolation, high frequency environmental vibrations present in the harsh operating environment can couple into the vibration sensitive device and corrupt its performance.  Micro-scale mechanical vibration isolators usually consist of a center proof mass pad, a suspension system, and a surrounding frame.  The isolator functions as a mechanical low-pass filter that provides useful attenuation of high frequency environmental vibrations between the frame and the proof mass pad to which the vibration sensitive device is attached.  The ability to 3D print vibration isolators may provide a number of advantages over isolators that are fabricated through traditional methods, such as with laser processing or silicon micromachining techniques.  Unlike traditional MEMS fabrication techniques, 3D printing is inexpensive and has much shorter fabrication times.  A section on the theoretical importance and function of mechanical vibration isolators is provided.  A review of 3D printing technology and its current applicable state is also presented.  This introduction leads into how 3D printing can be used to fabricate MEMS-scale devices such as mechanical vibration isolators.  Several mechanical vibration isolators were designed for this investigation, and their method of operation is detailed in the manuscript.  Fabrication of prototype vibration isolators was performed using current 3D printing technology.  The demonstration printer used for this investigation was the Formlabs’ Form 2 SLA printer, and the printed material was a UV curable photopolymer resin.  After the 3D printed vibration isolators were fabricated, they were evaluated though dynamic testing.  The testing consisted of evaluating the fabricated isolators’ ability to attenuate target vibration frequencies within a 0.2 kHz to 6.6 kHz bandwidth, using an electromechanical shaker for excitation and two laser interferometers for isolator performance measurement.  The resulting test data demonstrated that the MEMS-scale 3D printed mechanical vibration isolators can be a valid option for real world vibration isolation applications.  Additionally, the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of the MEMS-scale 3D printed mechanical vibration isolators are compared with similar sized traditionally fabricated mechanical vibration isolators. 


3D Printed MEMS-Scale Vibration Isolators

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace, Bioengineering, Applied Mechanics, Design Engineering Division, Advanced Energy Systems, Manufacturing Engineering Division, Noise Control and Acoustics, Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Prognosis (NDPD), Nuclear Engineering Division, Process Industries Division, Fluids Engineering, Heat Transfer, Materials, Microelectromechanical Systems, Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis, Computers & Information in Engineering


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2020/volume/84478

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