Working in the areas of laboratory work with microfluidics, development of surgical instruments, stent markets or medical implants will bring you in contact with items made using a micro molding process.
In reality, a great many people in the general population also benefit from micro molding in using devices or having their doctors or researchers use devices made using this technology. These parts, often incredibly detailed and with extremely tight tolerances for production, can be the difference in a patient being able to see or hear or to be able to have a lab test done to pinpoint a medical condition.
What Micro Molding Is Not
To understand the process of micro molding it may be helpful to look at what it is not. It is not simply a downsizing of a standard molding procedure. This means it is not just a scaled down recreation of a technology that has been around for decades. Specialized companies offer this process and can work with researchers and engineers to create prototypes of devices which are used in a wide range of applications.
It is also not the same as any type of other process done on a standard scale. The laws of physics and scalability come into play, so it not just a simple adjustment to bring everything into balance. In the micro design and development, not just the small size but also the variations in surface and volume have to be considered in complex calculations in the design of the part or item.
What it Is
Micro molding is an incredibly specific type of process that requires the use of a variety of different materials to create the final product. This could include using high temperature engineered thermoplastics or bio-reabsorbable resins. It may also require the use of thermoplastic elastomers that may be required to create features in the mold that are as small as 2 microns in size.
To create the molds used in micro molding, most manufacturers have their own proprietary mold making processes. Depending on the company they may use diamond turning and other processes to be able to create incredibly complex shape and features in the mold, allowing accuracy of duplication even with incredibly tight tolerances.
While micro molding is not something everyone may talk about on a daily basis, the use of this technology in the medical field, as well as in lab work and research, makes this an important process which will eventually touch everyone’s life.
microPEP have the ability to complete micro molding to the micron tolerance for all types of medical, research and scientific components. To learn more see us at Pepmicropep.com.
