New demolding concepts for the injection molding of microstructures

Communication and information technology are branches of industry with a high potential for growth and innovation. Micro-structured light guiding elements made from plastics can e.g. help to improve display technology referring to illumination. For the complete automated production of technical parts like this, the injection molding process shows a high potential. In injection molding especially a high mold surface temperature is a precondition for the accurate reproduction of such microstructures. Therefore, in these investigations, the use of a dynamic heating system by induction was analyzed to heat the cavity surface efficiently. Even though the accurate production of complex micro-structures has been mastered; a nondestructive demolding-process can cause serious problems. Therefore new demolding technologies are analyzed using different demolding principles.