ANALYSIS OF ELECTROMECHANICAL BUCKLING OF A PRESTRESSED MICROBEAM THAT IS BONDED TO AN ELASTIC FOUNDATION

The electromechanical buckling of a prestressed microbeam bonded to a dielectric elastic foundation is analyzed. It is shown that electrostatic forces can precipitately instigate buckling even when the prestress in the microbeam is lower than the critical value that would cause mechanical buckling. We show that electrostatic potential can be used to achieve on/off switching of surface flexures. An analytic solution of the critical electromechanical state is derived. In addition, an analytic approximation of the initial postbuckling state is also presented, and is validated numerically.