Micromanipulation Methods Based On The Adhesion Forces Between Microobjects With Mediated Liquids

Compared with traditional macro manipulation, in micro scale, various forces between micro objects impact the manipulation seriously. Adhesion forces instead of gravity begin to dominate under millimeter scale. So there are some difficulties to manipulate micro objects by overcoming them. Aim to the general application of sub-millimeter objects micromanipulation, a method for micro-object manipulation based on the adhesion force of liquid medium is present. Adhesion forces resulting from the liquid medium to the micro objects is used to control the micromanipulation process. A simple and controllable micromanipulation tool has been designed and completed the pickup and release manipulation of sub-millimeter objects effectively.Based on the micro objects adhesion mechanism of liquid medium, adhesion forces of micro objects and typical adhesion force models are analyzed. The new adhesion force models are set up. The simulation analysis of models is performed and the influencing laws of some relative parameters on the models are obtained.According to the adhesion force models, a scheme for micro-object manipulation based on the adhesion force of liquid medium is present. The pickup and release manipulation is transformed one another by mechanical motion to change the adhesion force generated by the liquid medium between the tool and micro-sphere, so the micro-sphere can be picked up and released successfully. Typical configuration and matching relation of the scheme are analyzed in detail; also the feasible conditions are put forward.The micromanipulation experimental system based on the adhesion force of liquid medium is established to verificate the models and scheme. Series contrast experiments of configuration parameters are performed. Intensive studies are put on the release operation which is very important manipulation of this method, and the influencing laws of relative parameters on the micromanipulation are established; the release precision is studied too. All these experiments indicated that this method can complete the pickup and release manipulation of sub-millimeter objects effectively and reach to good precision.This paper provided a new thought for micromanipulation by utilizing and controlling the adhesion forces and a good reference for further development and application of micromanipulation.