Effects of Different Backing Materials of Hybrid Rapid Tooling on the Demolding Time in the Hot Embossing Process

Abstract

Fresnel lenses are becoming more and more important because they are widely used as optical elements for concentrating solar power. Micro-hot embossing is a promising approach to fabricate Fresnel lenses. Precision optical elements must be more quickly and cheaply introduced to the market due to the pressure of global competition. The thermal conductivity of Aluminum (Al)-filled epoxy resins is lower than that of conventional mold steel materials. This work demonstrates a technique for fabricating hybrid rapid tooling with different backing materials to investigate the demolding efficiency in the hot embossing process. It was found that the Al was strongly recommend as backing material for fabricating hybrid rapid tooling due to cost, demolding time efficiency and dimensional accuracy of the embossed parts. Demolding efficiencies for the hot embossing mold with backing materials of copper, aluminum and steel about 78 %, 68 % and 50 % can be enhanced compared to that of the conventional rapid tooling. The replication rate exceeding 96 % in the hot embossing mold manufacturing process can be reached. The transcription rate exceeding 93 % in the hot embossing process can be obtained.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.24.3.13897