Flexural vibrations of microcantilevers coupled with a nanofiber

In this study, the flexural vibrations of a microcantilever system coupled with a nanofiber offset from the free ends of the cantilevers are explored. Here, for this system, we derive the general expressions for the characteristic equation and sensitivity of vibration modes of a microcantilever system with a nanofiber wrapped offset from the free ends of the cantilevers. It is shown that each mode has a different sensitivity that depends on the nanofiber stiffness relative to the beam stiffness. We also show how the characteristic equation can be exploited with the knowledge of the resonant frequencies to determine the nanofiber stiffness and its attachment position on the microcantilevers. Plots of nanofiber position on the cantilevers versus wavenumber are used to show the effect of the position of the nanofiber on frequency measurements. The results are anticipated to provide a basic understanding between the vibration modes and the properties of the electrospun nanofibers, that may be used to optimize the experiments.