Experimental Characterization of Transcription Properties of Microchannel Geometry Fabricated by Injection Molding Based on Taguchi Method

Abstract

Microchannel is a fundamental structure in various microfluidic systems. Precise reproduction of microchannel is required to achieve reliable efficiency of microfluidic systems. In this paper, we present the parametric sensitivity study of the replication of a cross microchannel by injection molding with a nickel mold insert which was fabricated by the UV-LIGA process. The effects of processing parameters of the injection molding on the transcription properties of cross-sectional geometry of the microchannel were quantitatively characterized by means of design of experiments based on the Taguchi method by varying mold temperature, melt temperature, injection speed and packing pressure. To quantitatively characterize the transcription properties, a measure, relative error between the size of mold insert and that of injection molded microchannel was newly suggested. From the sensitivity analysis of the experimental results based on the relative error, it was identified that mold temperature is the most sensitive processing parameter in this study. And also, the important processing parameter was found to become mold temperature, injection speed, packing pressure and melt temperature in the order of sensitivity. The optimal and worst processing conditions were also found in this study.