Deformation grating fabrication technique based on the solvent-assisted microcontact molding

A deformation grating fabrication technique based on solvent-assisted microcontact molding (SAMIM) is reported in this paper. The fabrication process can be divided into three steps: imprinting a grating on a medium polymer substrate (MPS) by SAMIM, coating a thin metal film on the MPS, and transferring the film to the measured surface. In order to increase the stiffness of the elastic mold without decreasing its conformal contact formation ability, a re-useable, glass-embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold is used. In addition, a characterization method based on the Fourier transform and phase analysis is proposed to check the quality of the fabricated grating. Verified by experiment, the proposed fabrication technique can fabricate a high-frequency large-area grating on different specimens, which can be a qualified deformation sensor for the moiré method.