Micro Assembly by Micro Resistance Welding with Electro-Thermal Actuators

Here micro resistance welding to assemble micro Ni structures with electro-thermal micro actuators is proposed and demonstrated. Since the contact point of two structures will have large contact resistance, high local temperature can be generated with current passing through due to Joule heating. In order to move the micro structure and provide welding pressure to generate proper contact resistance between two micro structures, bent-beam electro-thermal actuators are used here. By proper design on the size and the number of actuators, the feasible operation parameters on contact resistance and pressure are identified. It is shown that micro resistance welding can be achieved with the contact resistance from 4.6 Omega to 12 Omega at the contact pressure from 7.2 to 39.3 MPa.