Rapid-PROTOtyping-compatible, soft-micro-mould-tooled MANufacturing process chain

兼容快速原型设计的软微模具制造工艺链

• 批准号: EP/Z001005/1
• 负责人: Gregory Gibbons
• 金额: $ 41.28万
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FZ001005%2F1
• 关键词: Rapid; PROTOtyping; compatible; soft; micro

The mass production of technological miniature products requires high-precision mould tools, particularly for medical devices, optics, and microsystems. A significant portion of these components can be manufactured using a highly established manufacturing process: micro-injection moulding. Strict dimensional requirements such as feature size and tolerances make the mould procurement step the costliest investment in micro-injection moulding. This hinders the rapid development of emerging micro-technologies, such as microfluidics, which require multiple design iterations and have prohibitive tooling costs. Development of these micro-featured devices has become crucial especially after the COVID-19 pandemic which boosted the global demand for medical diagnostics. Hence, the establishment of resource and cost-effective prototyping and manufacturing processes for the EU is crucial since this sector is one of the main drivers of innovation, the creation of jobs and societal benefits.For accelerating the development of high added-value, miniature technological products, PROTOMAN will will deliver a "Rapid-PROTOtyping-compatible, soft-micromould- tooled MANufacturing process chain" for making high-precision soft-micro-mould tools from polymers, instead of costly, precision machined metal moulds for micro-injection moulding. The project will use state-of-the-art additive manufacturing and micro-fabrication methods to achieve this goal with an interdisciplinary mindset, combining fields such as manufacturing, optics, microfluidics and life sciences.In the wider context, PROTOMAN process chain will reduce the resources needed for the development of miniature technological products, such as labour, energy and materials. This will potentially shorten the time required for intricate products to enter markets and enable SMEs to test and develop their ideas rapidly, without major investments.

技术微型产品的大规模生产需要高精度的模具工具，特别是医疗器械、光学和微系统的模具。这些部件中的很大一部分可以使用高度成熟的制造工艺来制造：微注射成型。严格的尺寸要求，如特征尺寸和公差，使得模具采购步骤成为微注射成型中最昂贵的投资。这阻碍了微流体等新兴微技术的快速发展，这些技术需要多次设计迭代，并且工具成本高得令人望而却步。这些微功能设备的开发变得至关重要，尤其是在新冠肺炎大流行提振了全球对医疗诊断的需求之后。因此，为欧盟建立具有资源和成本效益的原型和制造流程至关重要，因为该领域是创新、创造就业机会和社会效益的主要驱动力之一。为了加快高附加值、微型技术产品的开发，PROTOMAN将提供一条“快速原型兼容、软微模具制造流程链”，用于用聚合物制造高精度软微模具工具，而不是昂贵的精密加工金属模具用于微注射成型。该项目将使用最先进的添加剂制造和微制造方法，以跨学科的思维方式实现这一目标，结合制造、光学、微流体和生命科学等领域。在更广泛的背景下，PROTOMAN工艺链将减少开发微型技术产品所需的资源，如劳动力、能源和材料。这可能会缩短复杂产品进入市场所需的时间，并使中小企业能够在不进行重大投资的情况下迅速测试和开发其想法。