Replication of Micro Laser Textures by Injection Molding

Abstract Increasingly micro technology becomes more important in order to develop new products with high added value. These new technologies known as micro allow us manufacturing precision components; these new micro components should work and take carrying out the functions previously performed by larger parts. Microinjection is one of these new technologies. This has the capacity to produce parts, for different materials both plastic and metal and for some industries and applications. The main objective in this paper is to determine the replicate microtextures capability for plastic injection molds. For our samples, ABS plastic is injected into four aluminum cavities with different laser textures performed in, using different technologies to get them. In order to analyze how mold texture affects parts, optical interferometry technique was selected to measure it. The superficial topography obtained was processed using MountainsMap TM software, in order to get the replicability of injected parts. It has also been used an electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the mold textures and injected parts in a photographically way.