Flexural Sensitivity of a V-Shaped AFM Cantilever Made of Functionally Graded Materials

In this paper, two lowest resonant frequencies and sensitivities of an AFM V-Shaped microcantilever made of functionally graded materials are studied. The beam is modeled by Euler-Bernoulli beam theory in which rotary inertia and shear deformation is neglected. It is assumed that the beam is made of a mixture of metal and ceramic with properties varying through the thickness of the beam. This variation is function of volume fraction of beam material constituents. The interaction between AFM tip and surface is modeled by two linear springs which expresses the normal and lateral contact stiffness. A relationship is developed to evaluate the sensitivity of FGM micro cantilever beam. Effect of volume fraction of materials and geometric parameters on resonant frequencies and sensitivities is studied. Results show that natural frequencies and sensitivities are significantly affected by volume fraction of material constituents and geometric parameters. Using these results, optimum geometric parameters and mass distributions of material constituents can be chosen so that high resolution images could be obtained.