MICRO-MILLING PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING OF MICROFLUIDIC MOULDS
Dr. Liz Katherine Rincon Ardila1; Dr. Luciana Wasnievski da Silva de Luca Ramos1; Prof. Dr. Erik Gustavo Del Conte2; Prof. Dr. Alvaro José Abackerli3; Tiago Cacossi Picarelli4; Felipe Alves de Oliveira Perroni4; Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Schützer4; Dipl.-Ing. Jan Mewis5; Prof. Dr. h. c. Dr.-Ing. Eckart Uhlmann5
1 Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas (IPT); 2 Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC); 3 Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa e Inovação Industrial (Embrapii); 4 Universidade Metodista de Piracicaba (UNIMEP); 5 Technical University Berlin
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-1250
Resumo
Modern technological devices demand high precision components and due increasing miniaturization of these components, the industries are faced to new challenges in the manufacturing processes. Micro-machining has several advantages among these new manufacturing processes, due to its capability of producing complex, high-precision geometries with micro-features in a wide range of materials. However, it has different phenomena compared to conventional machining. In order to increase their application in industries, micro-machining processes must fit in productivity and quality standards, thus needing further research to comply with these requirements. In this context, the project Micro-Milling Process Optimization (Micro-O) has been initiated in the scope of BRAGECRIM (Brazilian-German Collaborative Research Initiative on Manufacturing Technology), which is a Brazilian-German research platform for exchanging and developing know-how among partners, supporting research institutes and industries in both countries in achieving higher competitiveness levels on micro machining technologies. Micro-O's main goals are to improve micro-production chain, developing knowledge regarding machining process and the setup procedure as well as part control and process simulation. In this paper, initial results based on experiments conducted on a micro-machining center are presented, allowing analysis of data leading to optimized process values. A part geometry based on fundamental micro-features commonly used on molds for microfluidic devices was developed using CAD/CAM software. Finally, the procedures "design", "tool path generation", "process setup", "machining" and "part inspection" have been documented and analyzed with regard to their time consumption.
Palavras-chave: Micro-milling; CAD/CAM processing; Quality inspection; Microfluidic device; Micro-manufacturing