Hot embossing of microstructure with moving induction heating and gas-assisted pressuring

A new apparatus for a moving induction heating and gas-assisted hot embossing apparatus has been developed. A mechanism was designed and implemented to move the platform in and out the wrapped coil, on which the sealed box for substrate/mold was placed. A chamber of 195 mm diameter and 221 mm length was machined. The movable platform, the sealed box with substrate/mold stack, wrapped coil and cooling fan were all implemented in the high pressure chamber. The nine-point thermocouples attached on the mold, thus, a temperature history of the moving induction heating can be obtained and study the influence of the moving path and power on the heating rate and temperature distribution. The micro V-cut structure hot embossing experiment were performed to prove the potential of this moving induction heating and gas-assisted pressuring hot embossing for fast fabrication of microstructure onto polymeric substrates. As a results, replication rates were all above 95% at 200 °C and 5 kgf/cm2 and the cycle time was less than 4 min and the optic measurement shows the replicated V-cut film can enhance the 36.8% illuminance. The experiment results show the manufacturing potential of this apparatus.