A Bilayer Model For Incorporating The Simultaneous Effects Of Surface Energy And Microstructure Size Dependency On The Dynamic Response And Stability Of Electromechanical Nanocantilevers

Nanoscale beams might not be considered uniform isotropic since the energy of the surface layer and microstructure of the bulk material highly affect the mechanical characteristics of the beams. Herein, the simultaneous effects of energy of the surface and microstructure of the bulk on the dynamic response and stability of beam-type electromechanical nanocantilevers are investigated. A bilayer model has been developed which incorporates the strain energy of the surface atoms as well as the microstructure-dependent strain energy of the bulk. The Gurtin–Murdoch surface elasticity in conjunction with the modified couple stress theory (MCST) is applied to derive the governing equation. Since the classical assumption for zero normal surface stresses is not consistent with the surface equilibrium assumption in Gurtin–Murdoch elasticity, the presence of normal surface stresses is incorporated. The von Karman nonlinear strain is employed to derive the governing equation. The presence of gas rarefaction at various Knudsen numbers is considered as well as the edge effect on the distribution of Coulomb and dispersion forces. The mode shapes of the nanobeam are determined as a function of the surface and microstructure parameter and the nonlinear governing equation is solved using Galerkin method. The dynamic response, phase plane and stability threshold of the nanocantilever are discussed.