핫엠보싱 충전공정에 관한 수치해석

Numerical simulation of hot embossing filling

Micro molding technology is a promising mass production technology for polymer based microstructures. Mass production technologies such as the micro injection/compression molding, hot embossing, and micro reaction molding are already in use. In the present study, we have developed a numerical analysis system to simulate three-dimensional non-isothermal cavity filling for hot embossing, with a special emphasis on the free surface capturing. Precise free surface capturing has been successfully accomplished with the level set method, which is solved by means of the Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method. The RKDG method turns out to be excellent from the viewpoint of both numerical stability and accuracy of volume conservation. The Stokes equations are solved by the stabilized finite element method using the equal order tri-linear interpolation function. To prevent possible numerical oscillation in temperature Held we employ the streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) method. With the developed code we investigated the detailed change of free surface shape in time during the mold filling. In the filling simulation of a simple rectangular cavity with repeating protruded parts, we find out that filling patterns are significantly influenced by the geometric characteristics such as the thickness of base plate and the aspect ratio and pitch of repeating microstructures. The numerical analysis system enables us to understand the basic flow and material deformation taking place during the cavity filling stage in microstructure fabrications.