Effects of Cavity Conditions on Transcription Molding of Microscale Prism Patterns Using Ultra-High-Speed Injection Molding

Abstract

Abstract Ultra-high-speed injection molding has been reported to be a very effective method for improving transcription molding. In this study, by using stampers with V-grooves having pitches of 25 μm and 100 μm, we investigated the effects of cavity conditions, including cavity thickness, groove layout, and groove pitch size, on transcription molding. These experiments were also conducted under various molding conditions such as injection rates, melt and mold temperatures, and holding pressure, etc. As a result, it was found that the groove layout of a stamper remarkably affects transcription fidelity and these effects do not disappear when the molding is performed with a cavity-vacuum process. This phenomenon was explained using the well-known molecular orientation by the extensional flow during injection molding. When transcription molding was performed with cavities of different thicknesses (0.5 mm, 1.0 mm, and 2.0 mm), the effect of holding pressure on transcription was inversely related to the cavity wall thickness. This result indicates that, in the molding with a thin cavity wall, the transcription mainly completed during the filling stage. In addition to the shortening of cavity filling time and decrease in viscosity by shear heating, an accelerated increase in cavity pressure during the cavity filling stage was also found to be important for explaining the improvement in transcription with ultrahigh-speed injection molding.