doi:10.3850/978-981-07-0319-6_263

ABSTRACT

The replication of micro/nano scale features is of great interest for MEMS and Microsystems. However, the flow behaviour of melts into a micro/nano cavity is still not well understood. In this work, we used the micro injection moulding process to replicate micro/nano scale channels and ridges from a Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) cavity insert. High density polyethylene (HDPE) was used as the moulding material. The influence of feature configuration, length, width, spacing between features, location on the component and component thickness on the quality of replication were investigated. The experiments revealed that the replication of ridges, including feature edge, profile and filling distance, were sensitive to the flow direction; a critical feature length and width were found below which the filling of features was significantly reduced. Both the feature location and the substrate thickness had an influence on the filling of micro/nano features while the spacing had a negligible effect on the replication of features.

Keywords: Micro injection moulding, Replication quality, Micro/nano features, Bulk metallic glass.

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