Abstract
Recently, ultrasonic molding (USM) has emerged as a promising replication technique for low and medium volume production of miniature and micro-scale parts. In a relatively short time cycle, ultrasonic molding can process a wide variety of polymeric materials without any noticeable thermal degradation into cost-effective molded parts. This research work reviews recent breakthroughs of the ultrasonic injection molding and ultrasonic compression molding process regarding the equipment and tooling development, materials processing and potential applications in the medical industry. The discussion is centered on the challenges of industrializing this technology, pointing out the need for improvement of the current process’s robustness and repeatability. Among the most important research areas that were identified are the processing of novel engineered and nanomaterials, the understanding and control of the ultrasonic plasticization process and the tooling and equipment development.
Highlights
The trend to miniaturize medical devices, the large number of minimally invasive surgeries carried out per year and the aging of the population are just several factors driving the BioMEMS market expected to reach US$7.6 billion in 2021 [1]
It’s worth mentioning that the ultrasonic injection molding should not be confused with ultrasonic-assisted injection molding, which uses of ultrasonic vibrations for improving replicability and filling behavior during the injection and packing phase in the injection molding process, but the raw material is conventionally melted
A summary is presented in Table 3 about the main characteristics of ultrasonic molding technologies compared to micro-injection molding, a suitable for medical device of production
Summary
The trend to miniaturize medical devices, the large number of minimally invasive surgeries carried out per year and the aging of the population are just several factors driving the BioMEMS market expected to reach US$7.6 billion in 2021 [1]. A high percentage of the polymer injected into the mold is the melt in the extruder-based plasticization system is substantially bigger than the volume of the feeding system (sprues, runners and gates) leading to inefficient use of raw materials with important small part to be molded [6]. The raw material is directly poured into a plasticizing chamber prior from the plasticizing chamber into the mold cavity through a feeding system formed by runners and to being injected into the mold cavity, compacted by the plunger, and plasticized by ultrasonic energy gates. The shown of raw material per cycle is plasticized/fused; second, plasticization of the raw material is mainly definitions incorporate the main characteristics identified for each process, and emphasizes their produced by ultrasound energy; and themolding dimensional range of the molded pieces and its main differences. It’s worth mentioning that the ultrasonic injection molding should not be confused with ultrasonic-assisted injection molding, which uses of ultrasonic vibrations for improving replicability and filling behavior during the injection and packing phase in the injection molding process, but the raw material is conventionally melted
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