Resins Materials as Alternative Insert for the Fabrication of Micro Structured Surfaces by Micro Injection Moulding

Micro injection moulding is a key technology for mass-production of micro structured surfaces, such as optical and microfluidic devices. The manufacturing of a microstructured master mould with traditional technologies poses challenges about durability, accuracy and high - volume production. This paper introduces a new approach to realize micro mould inserts in a fast and economical way. Suitable engineered materials as alternative inserts to the metallic one are proposed exploiting the following new strategy: a thermosetting epoxy resin from renewable sources was synthesized and used to realize the mould insert via casting. The initial low viscosity of the liquid epoxy resin precursors allows the achievement of a high fidelity replica of different micro structures and provides an inexpensive and convenient route for rapidly duplicate master mould. A staggered harringbone (SHM) micro-mixer geometry was replicated and the epoxy based resin insert withstood 900 moulding cycles showing good features replication and durability.