Predictive modeling of the fatigue phenomenon for polycrystalline structural layers

This paper deals with the fatigue phenomenon of microstructures which is scanned through the dynamic response of polycrystalline structural layers during operation. A predictive modeling of the fatigue phenomenon has been determined based on experimental results obtained by using M-Tests. First, we present the fabrication process and simulation results. Next, cyclic actuation has been performed and two different characterization methods have been used: pull-in voltage measurement and mechanical determination of the stiffness with an Atomic Force Microscope. A description of the fatigue phenomenon is proposed and, from experimental results, a predictive modeling has been built and compared to new characterization results in order to validate it. This modeling allows predicting the evolution of clamped-clamped beam stiffness vs. the number of operations.