CO2-assisted embossing for the fabrication of PMMA components under low temperature and with low pressure
Journal
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
Journal Volume
18
Journal Issue
2
Pages
-
Date Issued
2008
Author(s)
Abstract
Gas-assisted pressurizing has been proven to provide a uniform pressure distribution over a large-area substrate. This paper reports an innovative embossing technique, which makes use of the unique combination of plasticizing and isotropic pressurizing poly(methyl methacrylate) substrates possible with CO2 gas. CO2 serves as a plasticizer and as a pressurizer of a substrate during gas-assisted embossing. As a result, CO2-assisted embossing can be performed under lower temperatures and with lower pressure, and enhances the replication quality by reducing the residual stress in the substrates. In this paper, the process parameters and the quality of the CO2-assisted embossed substrates with V-grooves are shown and discussed. Results show that the processing temperature, embossing pressure and residual stress in substrates are significantly lower with CO2-assisted embossing.
Type
journal article