Enabling Micro Injection Moulding Using a Soft Tooling Process Chain with Inserts Made of Mortar Material.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Polymer Processing

Background:

• Micro injection molding requires high-precision inserts for replicating micro features.
• Conventional inserts made from tool steel are expensive and time-consuming to manufacture.
• Rapid prototyping offers potential for faster and more cost-effective insert fabrication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a method for manufacturing mortar inserts for micro injection molding.
• To demonstrate the use of rapid prototyping with soft tooling for insert fabrication.
• To evaluate the performance of these mortar inserts in replicating micro features.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of mortar inserts using a rapid prototyping process based on soft tooling.
• Incorporation of a micro QR code with micro features onto the insert surface.
• Replication of the mortar insert features in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer via micro injection molding.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of mortar inserts with intricate micro features (QR code).
• Effective replication of these micro features in ABS polymer using the micro injection molded parts.
• Demonstration that the fabricated mortar inserts can compete with conventional tool steel inserts.

Conclusions:

• Rapid prototyping with soft tooling provides a viable method for producing mortar inserts for micro injection molding.
• The developed inserts are capable of high-fidelity replication of micro features, including QR codes.
• This approach offers a competitive alternative to traditional insert manufacturing methods in terms of cost and speed.