Design of a micro injection moulding machine

for thermosetting moulding materials

W. Michaeli, T. Kamps
Institute of Plastics Processing at RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

Abstract
Micro products made of thermosetting polymers enable innovative applications since thermoplastics do not
always yield the desired properties: thermosetting moulding grades offer advantages in thermal durability and
chemical resistance in comparison to thermoplastic resins. Processing smallest quantities of polymeric material for
applications in micro system technology require high process accuracies, e.g. in the volume of plasticised material and
injection dynamics. Alternative machine concepts especially designed for micro injection moulding meet these
requirements by means of special constructive setups mostly by using a plunger for injection. An appropriate micro
injection moulding machine prototype is available at IKV Aachen. A new design of the plasticising and injection unit
specially designed for thermosetting moulding materials is presented in this paper.
Keywords: micro injection moulding machine, plasticising, thermosetting materials, machine concept

1. Introduction
During the last decade, micro system technology
has evolved from a pure research field into an industry
with immense potential for the future. Growing rates of
about 16 % per year are regularly predicted. The
mainstream trend in micro system technology is the
increasing use of polymer parts in the micron range
[1,2].
The micro injection moulding is established as one
of the most common manufacturing processes for
polymeric materials in micro system technology,
especially for thermoplastic resins. Injection moulding is
often used to produce large numbers of micro
components at a high automation level, and thus at low
cost. Complexly shaped micro components with high
function integrity are state of the art [3].
However, properties of thermoplastics are sometimes insufficient for the application, where high
temperature durability and a good chemical resistance are required. In this case thermosets can be
appropriate material to substitute thermoplastic resin.
Besides extremely good heat and chemical resistance,
advantages of thermosets are flowability, high rigidity,
and a widely modifiable range of properties with the
help of fillers. All of them provide the opportunity to
realise innovative products.
Table 1
Properties of thermoplastic and thermosetting grades
Material
property
Melting
temperature (C)
Curing
temperature (C)
Long-term operating
temperature (C)
Youngs modulus
(MPa)

thermoplastic
polymers

thermoset
polymers

220350

6090

90130

60240

130200

2003000

500020000

Fig. 1. IKV-micro injection moulding

machine prototype
Main properties of thermoplastic and thermosetting
resins are compared in Table 1 [4,5,6].
Thermoset materials are of high interest for the
micro injection moulding, particularly because of their
flowability. Their viscosity is much lower than that of
thermoplastics once they reach the hot mould, so that
equivalent longer flow lengths can be taken into
consideration when rapid injection is guaranteed [7].
2. The IKV-micro injection moulding machine
prototype
A prototype of a micro injection moulding machine
was built and tested at IKV in former investigations [8].
The set-up for its use with thermoplastics is shown in
Figure 1.
For this micro injection moulding machine, a
concept using a two plungers unit was followed: During
the plasticising phase, the upper plasticising plunger
pushes resin through a die heated at melting
temperature as the injection plunger is cored back at
the same time. Injection follows when the desired shot
volume is reached. A ball check valve between injection
plunger and metering plunger prevents the melt from
flowing back into the metering cylinder.

Using a plunger for injection instead of a standard

screw is an appropriate method to ensure higher
process accuracy, which is needed in micro injection
moulding: Since plasticising screws cannot be scaled
down to less then 1214 mm, the melt throughput
per unit stroke during injection is much smaller with
a plunger of 25 mm than with a screw. Thus,
inaccuracies caused by the machine control lead
nonetheless to a more reproductive process. As a
consequence of the smaller volume throughput,
machine movement inaccuracies are less critical and
oversized compensation sprues can be avoided.
The injection plunger diameter can generally be
chosen as small as required to assure exact melt
dosing; the diameter is 2 mm in the illustrated case.
With this configuration the shot volume of the machine
reaches 0.1 cm.
3. Machine requirements for thermoset material
3.1. Clamping unit
Similar to thermoplastics, only small clamping
forces are needed in micro injection moulding with
thermosets due to the small dimensions of micro parts.
In this case, a pneumatic cylinder runs at a pressure of
12 bars, which is sufficient to hold mould opening
forces [8].
For the mould design, other requirements have to
be considered, like more precise mating surfaces and
higher temperatures than in injection moulding for
thermoplastic grades [9]. First trials with thermosetting
resins are run with an electrically heated mould for
thermoplastics.

plasticising
cylinder

heating medium
in- and outlets

injection
cylinder

die

~ 10 mm

Fig. 2. Design for the plasticising and

injection unit for thermosets

3.2. Plasticising unit

The plasticising unit of the micro injection moulding
machine is designed for the processing of free-flowing
thermosetting
moulding
compounds.
Typical
plasticising temperatures of these resins lie between
6090 C (see Tab. 1). While being pushed through the
heated die, material is melted via heat conduction.
Heat conduction in polymers is low compared to
other materials. Therefore plasticising by conductive
heating is time consuming and can extend the cycle
time, especially when melting thermoplastics [10]. With
thermosetting moulding material, these impairments are
less critical due to lower plasticising temperatures and
a generally higher thermal diffusity [9]; cones-quentially,
plasticising is less time consuming.
In the plasticising unit, temperature peaks have to
be avoided in all cases, for prematurely curing material
can put the entire machine out of action. In order to
provide the best possible temperature constancy, a
fluid heating system is applied, as indicated in the setup
sketch in Figure 2.
The requirements for the plasticising unit can be
summarised as follows:
adaptation on the existing machine body,
ensuring constant plasticising temperatures,
avoidance of a peak temperature,
fast plasticising,
avoidance of resin fluctuation in the injection
system for high process accuracy, and
flexible shot volumes.
4. Design of the plasticising unit
An illustration of the plasticising units basic set-up
is shown in Figure 2. Similar to thermoset injection
moulding machines in the macro scale, a common
heating via liquid medium was chosen for its
temperature control [8]. The high thermal capacity of
liquid heat carriers enables temperatures to be kept at
a very constant level, for pre-curing resin in the
machines injection section has to be avoided. This
detail represents the main difference to the design
being used for the processing of thermoplastics. It
involved some constructive modification, as explicated
in Figure 3.
However, despite the more complex design
significant improvements concerning temperature
constancy are expected. Water is used as heating
medium due its ease of handling and its good heat
transfer. It circulates through the plasticising and the
injection cylinder by means of a small-sized heating unit
by E. Braun GmbH, Kammerstein (Germany). The unit
can be run on internal or external temperature control.
In order to keep the machine set-up flexible
regarding the part volume being moulded, the
maximum shot volume can approximately be doubled
by means of a modular injection cylinder. For this task,
the injection plunger and the cylinder have to be
adapted as illustrated in Figure 3. The exchangeable
sleeve also shown in Figure 3 is provided with a bypass
groove to enable plasticising at the same time as the
injection plunger is pulled back after holding pressure.

injection plunger:
= 2 mm (A 3,1 mm)
max. shot volume: 1 cm

melt inlet / ball check valve

injection cylinder

injection plunger:
= 3 mm (A 7 mm)
max. shot volume: 2,1 cm

bypass groove
sealing

modular sleeve + plunger

Fig. 3. Modular setup of the injection cylinder

Another constructive detail is the seal preventing

resin to emerge between injection plunger and cylinder
back wall. Due to the low viscosity of thermoset grades,
a special sealing had to be considered. In this case, a
narrow fitting copper ring lowers the pressure working
on the outward lying Teflon-wiper.
5. Conclusion and perspective
Applications made of thermosetting polymer
grades are advantageous, where inappropriate
materials can be substituted, like the use of nickel in
bio-medical applications [11]. However, some
properties of thermosets provide the opportunity to
benefit from its characteristics in the micro injection
moulding.
In order to process the smallest amounts of
thermosetting polymer, an already existing micro
injection moulding machine based on a prototype
designed at IKV is available. Thermoset micro parts
with a shot weight in the area of 0.05 g to 3.0 g can be
manufactured with this setup.
Trials will be conducted for the in-mould assembly
of multi-material micro components, the so called
micro-assembly injection moulding.
Acknowledgements
The research presented in this paper is conducted as
part of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 440
Assembly of Hybrid Microsystems and is supported
financially by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), to whom we extend our thanks.

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