• Laser Solutions
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2003

In this study, manufacturing of polymer master and mold insert for micro injection molding was investigated. Ablation by excimer laser radiation could be used successfully to make 3-D microstructure of PET. The mechanism for ablative decomposition of PET with KrF excimer laser(λ: 248nm, pulse duration: 5ns) was explained by photochemical process. And this process showed PET to be adopted in polymer master for nickel mold insert. Nickel electroforming by using laser ablated PET master was preferable for replication method. Finally, it was shown that excimer laser ablation can substitute for X-ray lithography of LIGA process in microstructuring.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.6-9
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• 2008

This paper describes the process of structure analysis and injection molding analysis to manufacture the forming injection dies for huge glass insert. Factors such as filling time, filling pressure, material temperature, shrinkage, warpage were investigated by using the analysis software, Moldflow. Runner system and cavity structure were designed and manufactured through the results of deformation analysis data for glass insert. Filling time and filling pressure were analyzed in 3.756sec and 43.37MPa.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1821-1824
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• 2008

A novel in-mold packaging process has been developed to manufacture devices with closed channels. In this unified process, fabrication of open channels and forming the rigid cover on top of them are sequentially integrated in the same mold. The entire process is comprised of two phases. In the first phase, the open channels are fabricated under an exquisitely controlled temperature and pressure using the conventional micro injection molding technology. In the second phase, the closed channels are fabricated by conducting the injection molding process using the molded structure with the open channels as a mold insert. As a result, the in-mold technology can eliminate the bonding processes such as heating, ultrasonic or chemical processes for cohesion between the channel and the cover, which have been required in conventional methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2002.02a
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• pp.253-259
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• 2002

Micro cell structures with high aspect ratio were fabricated by injection molding method. The mold inserts had dimension $1.9cm\times8.3cm$ composed of a lot of micro posts and were fabricated by LIGA process. The size of the micro posts was $157{\mu}m\times157{\mu}m\times500{\mu}m$ and the gaps between two adjacent posts were $50{\mu}m$. Using Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) injection molding was performed. The key experimental variables were temperature, pressure, and time. By controlling these, good shaped mim cell structures with $50{\mu}m$ in wall thickness and $500{\mu}m$ in depth were obtained. In order to understand micro molding mechanism, shape changes of molded PMMA were studied with experimental variables. And the durability of mold insert was investigated, too. The results show that the most important factor in molding processes was the mold temperature that is closely related to the filling of the melt into the micro cavity. And the holding time before cooling showed a great effect on the quality of molded PMMA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.43-44
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• 2006

The production method of micro sacrificial plastic mold insert metal injection molding, namely ${\mu}-SPiMIM$ process has been proposed to solve specific problems involving the miniaturization of MIM. Two types of sacrificial plastic molds (SP-mold) with fine structures were used: 1) PMMA resist, 2) PMMA mold injected into Ni-electroform, which is a typical LIGA (${\underline{L}}ithographie-{\underline{G}}alvanoformung-{\underline{A}}bformung$) process. Stainless steel 316L feedstock was injection-molded into the SP-molds with multi-pillar structures. This study focused on the effects of metal particle size and processing conditions on the shrinkage, transcription and surface roughness of sintered parts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.111-114
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• 2005

Experimental and numerical studies were carried out in order to investigate the processability and the transcriptability of the injection molding of micro structures. For this purpose, we designed a mold insert having micro rib patterns on a relatively thick base part. Mold insert has a base of 2mm thickness, and has nine micro ribs on that base plate. Width and height of the rib are $300{\mu}m\;and\;1200{\mu}m$, respectively. We found a phenomenon similar to 'race tracking', due to 'hesitation' in the micro ribs. As the melt flows, it starts to cool down and melt front located in the ribs near the gate cannot penetrate further because the flow resistance is large in that almost frozen portion. When the base is totally filled, the melt front away from the gate is not frozen yet. Therefore, it flows back to the gate direction through the ribs. Consequently, transcriptability of the rib far from the gate is better. We also verified this phenomenon via numerical simulation. We further investigated the effects of processing conditions, such as flow rate, packing time, packing pressure, wall temperature and melt temperature, on the transcriptability. The most dominant factor that affects the flow pattern and the transcriptability of the micro rib is flow rate. High flow rate and high melt temperature enhance the transcriptability of micro rib structure. High packing time and high packing pressure result in insignificant dimensional variations of the rib. Numerical simulation also confirms that low flow rate causes a short shot of micro ribs and high wall temperature helps the filling of the micro ribs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.106-112
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• 2021

Thermoplastic microfluidic devices are used in BioMEMS for medical and biotechnology applications, such as gene extraction, DNA analysis, and virus detection. In this research, a simple fabrication protocol with a commercially available pneumatic hot press is proposed and demonstrated for polycarbonate microfluidic devices. Microfluidic channels with a width of 200 ㎛ and a height of 10 ㎛ were designed and machined onto a brass plate as a mold insert using a CNC milling machine. The resulting microfluidic channels on the mold insert were assessed and found to have an actual width of 198 ㎛ and a height of 10 ± 0.25 ㎛. The microfluidic channels were replicated on a polycarbonate sheet using the proposed replication technique at 146℃ for 20 minutes under a constant load of 2400 kgf. The devices were then naturally cooled to 100℃ while maintaining the same pressure. It was found that the microchannels were successfully replicated in the polycarbonate, with a width of 198 ㎛ and a height of 10.07 ㎛. The proposed replication technique thus offers the rapid mass production of high-quality microfluidic devices at a low cost with a process that, unlike conventional photolithography systems, does not require expensive equipment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.7-13
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• 2003

Microlens arrays were fabricated using a novel fabrication technology based on the exposure of a PMMA (Polymethylmethacrylate) sheet to deep X-rays and subsequent thermal treatment. X-ray irradiation causes the decrease of molecular weight of PMMA, which in turn decreases the glass transition temperature and consequently causes a net volume increase during the thermal cycle resulting in a swollen microlens. A new physical modeling and analyses for micro lens formation were presented according to experimental procedure. A simple analysis based on the new model is found to be capable of predicting the shapes of micro lens which depend on the thermal treatment. For the replication of micro lens arrays having various diameters with different foci on the same surface, the hot embossing and the microinjection molding processes has been successfully utilized with a mold insert that is fabricated by Ni-electroplating based on a PMMA microstructure of micro lenses. Fabricated microlenses showed good surface roughness with the order of 1nm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1923-1930
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• 2002

In this paper, we present modeling and simulation of microlens formation by means of a deep X-ray lithography followed by a thermal treatment of a PMMA (Polymethylmethacrylate) sheet. According to this modeling, X-ray irradiation causes the decrease of molecular weight of PMMA, which in turn decreases the glass transition temperature and consequently causes a net volume increase during the thermal cycle resulting in a swollen microlens. In this modeling, the free volume theory including the relaxation process during the cooling process was considered. The simulation results indicate that the modeling in this study is able to predict the fabricated microlens shapes and the variation pattern of the maximum heights of microlens which depends on the conditions of the thermal treatment. The prediction model could be applied to optimization of microlens fabrication process and to designing a micro mold insert for micromolding processes.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2020

Various manufacturing technologies, including over-molding and insert-injection molding, are used to produce hybrid plastics and metals. However, there are disadvantages to these technologies, as they require several steps in manufacturing and are limited to what can be reasonably achieved within the complexities of part geometry. This study aims to determine a practical approach for producing metal/plastic hybrid components by combining plastic injection molding and metal die casting to create a new hybrid metal/plastic molding process. The integrated metal/plastic hybrid injection molding process developed in this study uses the proven method of multi-component technology as a basis to combine plastic injection molding with metal die casting into one integrated process. In this study, the electrical conductivity and ampacity were verified to qualify the new process for the production of parts used in electronic devices. The electrical conductivity was measured, contacting both sides of the test sample with constant pressure, and the resistivity was measured using a micro ohmmeter. Also, the specific conductivity was subsequently calculated from the resistivity and contact surface of the conductor path. The ampacity defines the maximum amount of current a conductive path can carry before sustaining immediate or progressive deterioration. The manufactured hybrid multi-components were loaded with increasing currents, while the temperature was recorded with an infrared camera. To compare the measured infrared images, an electro-thermal simulation was conducted using commercial CAE software to predict the maximum temperature of the power loaded parts. Overall, during the injection molding process, it was demonstrated that multifunctional parts can be produced for electric and electronic applications.