Buckling analysis of polymer microneedle for transdermal drug delivery

Microneedle acts as a drug delivery device to deliver drugs into the human skin. During the insertion process, the microneedle may fail due to the bending and buckling effect. The failure of the microneedle will lead to the entry of foreign particles into the human skin which further creates a hazardous situation. The major failure of microneedle occurs due to the buckling effect. The buckling of microneedle occurs when the applied load exceeds the critical buckling load (Pcr). In this paper, the buckling of the microneedle is simulated to find the critical buckling load. The simulation of buckling analysis is done using linear and non-linear methods for different interpretations. For hollow polymer structure, the critical buckling load is found to be 0.6 N which is safe and sufficient for insertion. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.