Micro molding is attracting more attention nowadays and determination of the rheological behavior of the polymer melt within micro structured geometry is considered to be very important for the accurate simulation modeling of micro molding. The lack of commercial equipment is one of the main hurdles in the investigation of micro melt rheology. In this study, the melt viscosity measurement system for PS (polystyrene) melt flowing through a micro-channel was established using a micro-channel mold operated at a mold temperature as high as the melt temperature. From measured pressure drop and volumetric flow rate both the capillary flow model and the slit flow model were used for the calculation of viscosity utilizing Rabinowitsch and Walters corrections. It was found that the measured viscosity values in the test ranges are significantly lower (decreased by a factor of about 1.4–4.1) than those obtained from the traditional capillary rheometer at a melt temperature of 200 °C using both the capillary flow model and the slit flow model. As the micro-channel size decreases, the reduction in the viscosity value increases when compared with data obtained from the traditional capillary rheometer. The ratio of slip velocity relative to mean velocity was also found to increase with decreasing size of micro-channels. It seems that wall slip plays a dominant role when melt flows through micro-channels and would result in a greater percentage in apparent viscosity reduction when the size of the micro-channel decreases. In addition, the wall-slip effect becomes more significant as the melt temperature increases. In the present study we emphasize that the rheological behavior of the melt in the microscopic scale is different from that of the macroscopic scale and that current simulation packages are not suitable for micro molding simulation without considering this difference.

Electromagnetic induction heating combined with coolant cooling is used to achieve dynamic mold surface temperature control. A simulation tool was also developed by integration of both thermal and electromagnetic analysis modules of ANSYS, and capability and accuracy were verified experimentally. To evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of induction heating on the mold surface temperature control, a mold plate (roughly about an inset size of cellular phone housing) with four cooling channels was utilized for two demo experiments with varying mold surface temperature between 110 and 180°C , and 110 and 200°C, respectively. During induction heating/cooling, it takes 4 s to increase mold surface temperature from 110 to 200°C and 21 s for mold surface to return to 110°C. The mold plate surface temperature can be raised at about 22.5°C and cooled down at 4.3°C/s within the aforementioned temperature range. Mold plate temperature distribution exhibits good uniformity as well in all stages of the heating/cooling process. Finally, mold surface temperature of a double-gated tensile test part mold was induction heated to above glass transition temperature for few seconds prior to melt injection. The surface mark of weld line was eliminated, and the associated weld line strength enhanced.

Hot embossing and injection molding are popular methods to duplicate micro features formed during polymer micro-fabrication of MEMS devices. However, both methods face challenges in filling the polymer melt completely into a micro-featured geometry of a high aspect ratio. In this study, electromagnetic induction heating combined with water cooling is used to achieve rapid mold surface temperature control during the micro-feature injection molding process. A CAE simulation was also developed through integration of both thermal and electromagnetic analysis modules of ANSYS, and its capability and accuracy were verified experimentally. Efficiency evaluations of induction heating and the uniformity of mold temperature control were conducted on a micro-featured mold. This mold was designed with a micro channel array of 30–50 µm in width and 120 and 600 µm in depth, corresponding to aspect ratios ranging from about 2.4 to 12. The accuracies of the micro channels in molded PMMA parts can be used to evaluate the effect of mold temperature on replication accuracy. It was found that rapid mold surface heating with temperature rising from 60 °C to between 100 °C and 140 °C by induction heating requires 2–3.5 s, while the mold temperature returns to 60 °C in about 70–110 s. The simulated mold surface temperature results are consistent with measured results. Achieving the same temperature variation by switching circulation coolants of different temperatures requires at least 7 min. The simulation also reveals that the electromagnetic wave can penetrate into the bottom of the micro channel and results in only about a 2 °C difference in temperature uniformity. For mold temperatures of 100 °C, 120 °C and 140 °C, the molded channel depths were 94.9 µm, 105.4 µm and 116.0 µm, respectively, when the ideal channel depth was 120 µm. When the channel depth is 600 µm, the mold temperature must exceed 120 °C, so that reasonable accuracy in micro-feature replication can be achieved. Our results to date indicate that the aspect ratio for molded PMMA micro channels can be as high as 12. Efficient mold temperature variation by induction heating to improve the replication accuracy in molding micro features is successfully illustrated.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The fountain flow effect in a mold cavity results in molecular orientation that is likely to create flow-induced residual stresses, warpage of finished products, and excessive shrinkage, thus making it difficult to guarantee high precision control. This study uses a gas counter pressure technique to inhibit fountain flow and employs a visualization mold design to observe the influence of counter pressure on melt flow behavior, in order to discuss the impact of the counter pressure mechanism on the fountain flow. The visualization mold designed herein and the clip cavity help to test the counter pressure mechanism in injection molding, while the observed particles and high-speed camera assist in observing the influence of fluid flow behavior and counter pressure on the fountain flow effect. The study observes and tracks the flow trajectory of particles in the melt, with findings showing that the closer the flow line of the melt is to the mold wall, the shorter the offset distance will be to the outward flip. Moreover, the closer to the center, the longer the offset distance of the outward flip meaning that it flips outwards in the melt-front nearby the center line and stays on the mold wall surface to form a new frozen layer. The melt-front length changes under different counter pressures and different mold temperatures. The front length changes present the inhibitory effect of counter pressure on the fountain flow, which is more apparent at the far gate than at the near gate. The melt-front lengths of the counter pressure of 0 bar at mold temperatures of 40 °C and 20 °C increase 1.5% and 4.7%, respectively, meaning that the thicker the frozen layer, the more apparent the fountain effect.

In this study, the effects of the temperature cyclic loading on three lead-free solder joints of 96.5Sn–3.5Ag, 95.5Sn–3.8Ag-0.7Cu, and 95.5Sn–3.9Ag-0.6Cu bumped wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) on printed circuit board assemblies are investigated by Taguchi method. The orthogonal arrays of L16 is applied to examine the shear strain effects of solder joints under five temperature loading parameters of the temperature ramp rate, the high and low temperature dwells, and the dwell time of both high and low temperatures by means of three simulated analyses of creep, plastic, and plastic-creep behavior on the WLCSP assemblies. It is found that the temperature dwell is the most significant factor on the effects of shear strain range from these analyses. The effect of high temperature dwell on the shear strain range is larger than that of low temperature dwell in creep analysis, while the effect of high temperature dwell on the shear strain range is smaller than that of low temperature dwell in both plastic and plastic-creep analyses.