Vibration analysis of the radio frequency microelectromechanical system microbeam reinforced with copper nanoparticles

The efficiency of radio frequency microelectromechanical system microswitches made up of electrodes reinforced with copper nanoparticles has been examined numerically. To assume a more realistic assumption, the effects of the van der Waals and Casimir intermolecular forces have been considered. Equivalent mechanical properties have been obtained by applying the rule of mixtures, and the size-dependent nonlinear equations were derived with the Hamilton principle and nonlocal Euler–Bernoulli beam theory. With the aid of the Galerkin method, the nonlinear equation is discretized. The results are studied for different values of effective parameters such as nanoparticle weight fraction, Casimir and vdW force coefficients, structural damping, and cantilever and clamped–clamped boundary conditions. The results indicate that increasing the parameter of small size and Casimir forces and vdW leads to a decrease in equivalent stiffness and hence a decrease in pull-in voltage. Furthermore, utilizing copper nanoparticles significantly enhances the stability behavior of microbeams. For clamped–clamped Cu nanoparticle-improved microbeams, the resonant frequency rises by nearly 33% by increasing the weight fraction of copper nanoparticles to 0.2 wt.%. Thus, it can be concluded that the suggested design for using microbeams reinforced with copper nanoparticles in microswitches will exhibit excellent performance.