A Novel Flexible Liquid Metal Microheater with a Textured Structure
Yuqing Li,
Huimin Zhang,
Zi Ye,
Mingyang Liu,
Wei Liu,
Zhenming Li,
Lin Gui
Affiliations
Yuqing Li
Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
Huimin Zhang
Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
Zi Ye
Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
Mingyang Liu
Energy Storage and Novel Technology of Electrical Engineering Department, China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100192, China
Wei Liu
Energy Storage and Novel Technology of Electrical Engineering Department, China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100192, China
Zhenming Li
Energy Storage and Novel Technology of Electrical Engineering Department, China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100192, China
Lin Gui
Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China
In this paper, we propose a novel liquid metal microheater utilizing a textured structure. This microheater effectively solves the problem of the liquid metal in the PDMS flow channel fracturing at a certain temperature and significantly increases the maximum operating temperature that can be achieved by the current liquid metal microheater. Experimental results demonstrate that this new structured microheater can achieve a maximum operating temperature exceeding 300 °C. To explain the performance improvement and the reasons behind liquid metal fracture, corresponding experiments were conducted, and explanations were provided based on the experimental results. Subsequently, we verified the mechanical flexibility of the microheater and found that it exhibits excellent tensile and bending resistance. Finally, utilizing its good mechanical flexibility, the microheater was successfully attached to the side wall of a cup, resulting in the boiling of water.
