GOALI: Nanocoining

这个学术与工业联络（GOALI）项目的赠款机会旨在测试一个假设，即压印过程可以用来快速创建一个包含数十亿个微型功能的大型模具在高精度机床。 然后，这些模具将用于将这些特征微复制到塑料片上，从而产生大量低成本光学元件。 由于这些特征小于光的波长，因此这些光学元件的功能性和适用性将得到改善。 例如，小的特征可以创建模仿蛾眼中的纳米结构的非反射表面，或者可以有效地耦合来自有机发光二极管的光。 该项目将联合收割机机械工程和材料科学的教师和学生沿着与制造专家从3M创建微型模具功能和动态过程需要复制这些功能到一个大的模具。 材料选择、特征形状复制、致动器设计、过程控制将是研究的主题。如果成功，该项目将彻底改变用于反射膜和防眩光笔记本电脑屏幕等应用的微复制工艺。此外，该研究项目还为北卡罗来纳州州立大学的研究生和本科生提供了学习细节和扩展纳米级制造能力的机会。工作结果将在技术会议上介绍，并在科学期刊上发表。 为每个小组提供的研究经验将提高科学和工程教育的质量

This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project is designed to test the hypothesis that a coining process can be used to rapidly create a large mold containing billions of miniature features in a high-precision machine tool. These molds would then be used to micro-replicate these features onto plastic sheets creating large volumes of low-cost optical elements. Because these features are smaller than the wavelength of light, the functionality and applicability of these optical elements will be improved. For example, small features can create a non-reflective surface mimicking the nanostructures in moth eyes or can efficiently couple light from an organic light emitting diode. This project will combine mechanical engineering and material science faculty and students along with fabrication experts from 3M to create the miniature die features and the dynamic process needed to replicate these features onto a large mold. Material selection, feature shape replication, actuator design, process control will be topics of research.If successful, this project will revolutionize micro-replication processes used for applications such as reflective films and anti-glare laptop screens. It also will have application for improving the light capture efficiency in organic solar cells In addition, the research project provides the opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students at North Carolina State University to learn the details and extend the capability of nanoscale manufacturing. The results of the work will be presented at technical meetings and published in scientific journals. The research experience provided to each of these groups will improve the quality of the science and engineering education