Infrared Radiation Heated Hot Embossing of Plastic Plates with Micro-features

• Main Authors: Meng-Ke Li, 李孟科
• Other Authors: Shih-Jung Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39557219617554689360

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 機械工程研究所 === 95 === This paper reports a rapid fabrication of polymeric micro-block arrays using an IR heated hot embossing process. A pneumatically actuated embossing facility with IR heating capacity has been designed, constructed and tested in our laboratory. To mold micro-blocks onto the plastic plates, a silicon mold with an array of micro-block cavities is fabricated by photolithography and deep reactive ion etching. During the embossing process, a PMMA plate was first placed above the mold. A ceramic IR heater was placed above the PMMA plate to heat the mold. During heating, the IR passed through the transparent PMMA to reach and heat up the mold surface. After the retrieve of the IR heater, the pneumatically actuated embossing facility pressed the plastic plate against the hot master mold. A micro-block array is obtained. The effect of various processing parameters on the replicability of the micro-blocks was investigated. Under the proper processing conditions, the 50x37 arrays of polymeric micro-blocks, with a dimension of 200 m x 80 m x 40m can be successfully fabricated. The experimental results in this study suggest that IR heated embossing could provide an effective way of fabricating microstructures onto plastic plates. This would provide significant advantages in terms of a shorter cycle time as well as improved product quality.