Manufacturing AA6061 micro-molds by hot embossing for production of polymeric microfluidic devices

• Main Author: Tran, Nhat Khoa
• Other Authors: Lam Yee Cheong
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Manufacturing
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/60676
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In the manufacturing of microfluidic devices, the micro-molds will not only affect the overall manufacturing cost but also determine the quality of the molded micro-parts. Thus, the focus of this research is to investigate if an aluminum alloy micro-mold could be fabricated by hot-embossing using silicon (Si) master with acceptable cost, quality, and life span. By employing the appropriate processing parameters, experiments conducted indicate conclusively that the deformation mechanism of aluminum alloy 6061 (AA6061) in micro hot embossing is the plastic deformation of the grains themselves. As such, contradictory to conventional wisdom, this investigation shows that grain size is not a determining factor on the smallest feature that could be reproduced for a polycrystalline material. Using the processing methodology developed, AA6061 micro-molds were successfully fabricated and the effectiveness of these molds was examined by hot embossing on TOPAS 8007 substrates. Finally, Anand’s large deformation theory for isotropic plastic solids has been demonstrated to be adequate in predicting the forming process of AA6061 in micro hot embossing.