CAREER: Rapid Production of Plastic Microstructures

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This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) plan seeks to develop new technology for molding high-aspect-ratio microstructures and conduct fundamental research in microstructures and fundamental research in micromolding. A rapid thermal response molding process has been developed to increase productivity in molding low-stress products. The technology can be adapted to micromolding to solve the premature freezing problem while maintaining short cycle times. Molding results of high-aspect-ration microstructures will be used to validate an approach for simulating the filling process of polymer melts in microcavities. The key research and education activities include: (1) Integrating the rapid thermal response technology with thermoplastic micromolding processes, i.e., microinjection molding and hot embossing. (2) Characterizing the microscale viscosity of polymer melts and the size effect in microscale. (3) Simulating the filing process of polymer melts in microcavities. (4) Developing a graduate and undergraduate course in polymer microfabrication and enhancing several existing courses in materials processing and manufacturing. (5) Developing an integrated research and education laboratory in polymer microfabrication with involvement of both undergraduate and graduate students.The key impacts of this project include: (1) The technology for rapid production of high-aspect-ratio microstructures that will impact significantly in the fast growing telecommunication and biomedical industries. (2) The capability in characterizing and modeling microscale polymeric flows that will provide a fundamental understanding of polymer microfabrication. (3) The integrated research and education program will provide educational opportunities for students to work on leading edge research projects in polymer microfabrication.