Stability of Superhydrophobic Ring & Axle Liquid Bearings

Abstract

Friction between contacting solid surfaces is a dominant force on the micro-scale and a major consideration in the design of MEMS. Non-contact fluid bearings have been investigated as a way to mitigate this issue. Here we discuss a new design for surface tension-supported thrust bearings utilizing patterned superhydrophobic surfaces to achieve improved drag reduction. We examine sources of instability in the design, and demonstrate that it can be simply modeled and has superior stiffness as compared to other designs.