Capillary Forces in Microassembly: Modeling, Simulation, Experiments, and Case Study

Microassembly Specificities.- From Conventional Assembly to Microassembly.- Classification of Forces Acting in the Microworld.- Handling Principles for Microassembly.- Conclusions.- Modeling and Simulation of Capillary Forces.- First Set of Parameters.- State of the Art on the Capillary Force Models at Equilibrium.- Static Simulation at Constant Volume of Liquid.- Comparisons Between the Capillary Force Models.- Example 1: Application to the Modeling of a Microgripper for Watch Bearings.- Second Set of Parameters.- Limits of the Static Simulation.- Approaching Contact Distance, Rupture Criteria, and Volume Repartition After Separation.- Example 2: Numerical Implementation of the Proposed Models.- Conclusions of the Theoretical Study of Capillary Forces.- Experimental Aspects.- Test Bed and Characterization.- Results.- Example 3: Application to the Watch Bearing.- Example 4: Application to the Watch Bearing.- Conclusions.- General Conclusions and Perspectives.- Conclusions and Perspectives.- Appendices.- Modeling Complements.- Geometry Complements.- Comparison Between Both Approaches.- Symbols.