Simulation of the micro injection molding process

To predict the filling process of micro injection moldings, a dedicated 3 dimensional software is under development. The algorithm is based on automatic remeshing of the varying flow domain. Currently, viscous flow calculations are performed, while visco-elastic effects will be addressed at a later stage. To verify the results, micro injection molding trials with different polymers were carried out. Therefore, new test structures, realized by means of the LIGA technique, were designed. Visco-elastic effects like unique shapes of the frozen flow fronts have been observed, which leads to a new interpretation of micro mold filling.