IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information,Embedded and Communication systems (ICIIECS)2015

Analysis of Structural Mechanics of Solid

Microneedle Using COMSOL Software
Urvi Kanakaraj Tshewang Lhaden
Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Biomedical Engineering
SRM University SRM University
Chennai, India Chennai, India
[email protected] [email protected]

Karthik Raj.V
Department of Biomedical Engineering
SRM University
Chennai, India According to geometry, microneedles are classified into
[email protected] solid and hollow microneedles. In hollow microneedles,
solvent flows through the microneedle bore which can be
Abstract— Microneedles are currently being extensively regulated with a pump leading to precise dosage. The main
researched for therapeutic and diagnostic applications, as they disadvantage is the risk of clogging of the microneedle
are painless, cheaper than conventional needles, and reduce which impairs its strength. There are three approaches by
risk of infection. In this paper, we have selected 10 materials which solid microneedles can be classified, mainly poke and
for solid microneedle and have performed the structural
patch, poke and release and coat and poke. In each case, no
analysis of each material using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3.
The study was based on the factors affecting microneedle pump is required but reformulation of the drug is needed [1].
strength such as buckling and bending forces. The result
indicated that the microneedle made of Silicon carbide was
II. METHODOLOGY
superior to the other selected materials and while considering
the property of biodegradability for the same study, Silk was A. Skin anatomy and model
preferred. PLA and Polycarbonate experienced buckling and The human skin plays a vital role in protecting the body
thus were not preferred from the selected materials. against excessive water loss and provides a barrier against
pathogens. The outermost layer of the skin is the stratum
Index Terms— Solid Microneedle, buckling, bending, corneum which is composed of dead tissues and is 10-15µm
COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3, Silicon Carbide
thick. The next layer is the viable epidermis which is 50-
150µm thick and consists of living cells and nerves. Below
I. INTRODUCTION the viable epidermis lies the dermis layer which is about
Microneedle is a micron-scaled needle-like structure 1000µm thick, containing nerves and blood vessels [2].
with a maximum length of 1mm. It is a promising method, The skin was modeled as three cylindrical layers each of
which is partially non-invasive, to deliver a broad range of radius 300µm. The Young modulus of the stratum corneum,
drugs such as oligonucleotides, inactivated viruses, DNA, viable epidermis and dermis is 26MPa, 0.136MPa and
protein, peptides and small molecular weight drugs through 0.066MPa, respectively with a Poisson’s ratio of 0.49 for
the skin. Microneedle has plenty of advantages apart from it each layer ([3], [4]). The layers of the skin are simulated as
reducing pain, infection and injury with minimum invasion shown in Fig.1.
of tissue. It is highly suitable for people with needle phobia B. Microneedle Dimension
and can assist people having difficulty maintaining their The microneedle design is represented in 3D as a cone
drug schedules. Microneedles require minimal medical which is 750µm in height, 200µm in base diameter and
training and thus can also be self-administered. Mass 10µm in tip diameter [3]. The design is shown in Fig.1.
fabrication further reduces its cost, maintaining better
accuracy. An array of needles can be used for continuous C. Microneedle Materials
drug delivery and accurate dosing also provides highly The 10 materials selected along with their properties
targeted drug administration to individual cells. Further, it is have been mentioned in table. 1. These materials were
also integrated into lab-on-a-chip systems for monitoring selected because they can be classified into the three main
diseases like diabetes and for taking biological samples via groups of microneedles materials – metals, polymer and
the skin. glass.

978-1-4799-6818-3/15/$31.00 © 2015 IEEE

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TABLE I. MICRONEEDLE MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Material Material group Density(kg/m3) Poisson's ratio Young's Modulus (GPa) Yield Strength (GPa)
Silicon Metal 2329 0.28 170 7
Titanium Metal 4506 0.321 115.7 0.1625
Polysilicon Metal 2320 0.22 169 7
Steel Metal 7850 0.33 200 0.250
Silicon Carbide Ceramic 3216 0.45 748 21
Silk Polymer(Natural) 1340 0.4 8.55 0.500
PLA Polymer 1251.5 0.36 1.280 0.05345
Maltose Polymer (Sugar) 1812 0.3 7.42 7.44
Borosilicate glass Glass 2230 0.22 66.3 3.6
Polycarbonate Polymer 1210 0.37 2.4 0.070

resistive force. The axial load, which is a compressive force,

is experienced by a microneedle at its tip during insertion,
and this can cause buckling. Buckling can be reduced by
making the microneedle tip sharper, as a smaller tip area
tends to decrease the axial load. Failure of microneedle can
occur due to buckling or bending during insertion, and thus
the design of the microneedle is important [5]

E. Structural Simulation
COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3 was utilized for the
simulation and structural analysis of the microneedle.
Simulations were performed on a single microneedle of
each material and the Solid Mechanics interface was utilized
to define the features and boundary conditions for the
analysis.
The resistive force offered by the skin is given by

Fig. 1. Dimensions of skin and microneedle (2)

Where, P is the pressure required to pierce the skin, which

D. Microneedle Mechanics
is 3.18MPa, and A is the area of cross section of the tip of
Upon insertion into the skin, the microneedle the needle which is in contact with the skin [6]. A fixed
experiences two kinds of forces namely bending and axial constraint is applied at the tip of the needle, and the
forces. Microneedles ideally need to be inserted vertically. calculated force of 2.497x10-4N was applied at the base at a
But in the real settings, a microneedle experiences a velocity of 1cm/s [4]. The stress experienced by each
transversal force, which causes a bending moment, at its tip material was tabulated and the material experiencing least
when it is inserted into the human skin. Thus the maximum stress at its tip was preferred, since more stress can lead to
bending force the needle can withstand is given by the needle fracture.
following equation. For the following analysis, the needle alone was
simulated. Linear buckling analysis carried out to determine
if any material experienced buckling for the applied force of
(1)
2.497x10-4N at the base with tip fixed. For bending and
axial load studies, the tip of the microneedle was kept free
Where is the Yield strength of the material, I is the and the base was kept fixed. The bending force for each
Moment of Inertia, c is the distance of neutral axis to material was calculated from equation 1 and was applied at
outermost edge of microneedle i.e. = D/2 and L is the the tip of the needle, transversely. The stress obtained at the
Length of microneedle [5]. base of the needle was then compared with that material’s
The skin has a resistive force which opposes the yield strength. An axial load of 3.18MPa, indicating
microneedle insertion into the skin. To overcome this, the resistive force of the skin, was applied at tip of needle to
applied force at the base should be greater than the skin’s

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 IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information,Embedded and Communication systems (ICIIECS)2015

determine if the microneedle was strong enough to penetrate

the skin without failure or not ([5], [6]).
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
In this work, the simulation of structural analysis of
microneedle of 10 different materials is presented using
COMSOL software. The microneedle is influenced by
various forces during skin insertion, like buckling and
bending. The structural analysis performed, predicts the
effect of these forces on the 10 different materials for the
microneedle design.
Stress experienced by a material is preferred when it is
low, as the higher it gets the more likely the design will
collapse. On application of force of 2.497x10-4N and
velocity of 1cm/s on the given model, microneedle made of
PLA experienced the least stress whereas microneedle made
of Polysilicon experienced the most stress, as shown in table Fig. 2. Least Stress Analysis (SiC)
IV. The stress experienced by silicon carbide is shown in
Fig.2. Since the force and velocity applied on each material
was the same, the total displacement experienced by the TABLE II. CRITICAL BUCKLING FORCE FOR EACH MATERIAL
needle and the skin for each material did not change.
Critical buckling
Sudden failure of the microneedle can be caused by Material Critical load factor
force (N)
buckling. This was studied computationally using linear
buckling analysis which estimated the critical load factors Titanium 24.0802036 0.006012827
for each material. The critical buckling force for one needle
Structural steel 41.68512 0.010408774
can be estimated by multiplying the applied force with the
critical load factor as shown in table II. When the critical Silk 1.806337 0.000451042
load factor is greater than 1, or when the critical buckling
force is greater than the applied force for insertion, the Silicon 35.175638 0.008783357
microneedle doesn’t undergo buckling. From table IV, it can
be determined that PLA and Polycarbonate are likely to SiC 160.169289 0.039994271
experience failure due to buckling, whereas the rest of the
Polysilicon 34.73438 0.008673175
materials do not undergo buckling. The simulation result for
SiC is shown in Fig.3. Polycarbonate 0.50382 0.000125804
For bending analysis, the bending force applied at the tip
was calculated from equation 1 and table III shows the force PLA 0.268188 6.69665E-05
calculated for each material. The material is preferred when
the stress experienced at the needle base is lesser than its Maltose 1.539477 0.000384407
yield strength, as the stress induced deformations will occur
within the elastic region. From table IV, it is shown that all Borosilicate glass 13.626562 0.003402553
the materials are suitable, as none of them experience a
stress greater than their yield strength. The simulation result TABLE III. CALCULATE BENDING FORCE FOR EACH MATERIAL
for bending analysis on SiC is shown in Fig.4.
The resistive force offered by skin is 3.18MPa. Axial load Material Bending Force(N)
analysis is studied to understand how this resistive force, Silicon 5.121738501
acting on the tip of the needle, affects the structure of the
Silk 0.210486708
microneedle. From table IV, the stress experienced at tip of
microneedle, is lesser than each material’s yield strength, Polysilicon 5.101946467
and thus each material has the strength to penetrate the PLA 0.021014954
human skin. The simulation result on SiC is shown in Fig.5
Borosilicate glass 2.522070581
IV. CONCLUSION
SiC 21.21706013
In this paper, the microneedle was designed as a 3D
Polycarbonate 0.02660929
cone and 10 of the commonly researched microneedle
materials were simulated and their structural analysis was Maltose 0.025616546
compared using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3. Analysis Titanium 0.230035268
experienced by a microneedle such as least stress analysis,
Stainless steel 0.616537558

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TABLE IV. SIMULATION RESULTS.

Critical Buckling Stress at base of needle Stress at tip of needle
Material von-Mises stress(Pa) Biodegradable
Force (N) for bending force (Pa) for axial load (Pa)
PLA 6.32E+05 6.28E-05 1.18E+05 2.82E+06 Yes
SiC 6.39E+05 0.041538827 1.54E+08 2.87E+06 No
Polycarbonate 6.44E+05 0.000118684 1.35E+05 2.83E+06 Yes
Silk 6.49E+05 0.000451042 1.13E+06 2.84E+06 Yes
Steel 6.71E+05 0.010408774 2.48E+06 2.82E+06 No
Maltose 6.71E+05 0.000351157 1.26E+05 2.82E+06 Yes
Titanium 6.72E+05 0.006012827 8.55E+05 2.82E+06 No
Silicon 6.81E+05 0.008783357 3.86E+07 2.82E+06 No
Borosilicate
6.91E+05 0.003402553 1.80E+07 2.83E+06 Yes
glass
Polysilicon 6.91E+05 0.008673175 3.64E+07 2.83E+06 No

Fig. 3. Buckling Force Analysis (SiC)

Fig. 5. Axial Load Analysis (SiC)

PLA and Polycarbonate based microneedles are likely to

undergo buckling and thus are not preferred from the
selected materials. Silicon Carbide was the most suitable
material amongst the others selected as it satisfies all the
analysis conditions, and, silk was preferred while
considering the property of biodegradability.
V. FUTURE STUDY
The Young’s modulus value of the skin varies linearly
with age. Microneedle insertion rate would thus be different
based on skin difference in age group. The optimal range of
insertion force can be found using COMSOL software.
To simulate a coated microneedle and analyze the
structural performance based on different materials.

Fig. 4. Bending Force Analysis (SiC) ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank the department of
buckling force analysis, bending force analysis and axial Instrumentation and Control Engineering, SRM University
load analysis were studied. Result indicated that all the for permitting us to utilize the COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3
selected materials do not experience failure due to buckling, software.
and have the strength to penetrate the human skin.

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