Effects of surface roughness on microinjection molding

Injection molding is one of the most common processes for cost‐effective mass production of microplastic parts. When the dimensions of the part, and thus the cavity of the mold, are small, microscale factors which are normally neglected in the analysis of conventional injection molding may play an important role. This investigation addresses the effects of mold surface roughness on the injection of polymer melt, which is a non‐Newtonian fluid, during the filling stage of microinjection molding. The surface roughness effect on the volume of the mold cavity is discussed. A simple, but effective model, to describe the conductivity and the specific heat of the surface roughness is proposed. Subsequently, by employing the finite volume method and the level set method, a numerical procedure incorporating the proposed surface roughness model to describe the flow behavior of the polymer melt in the cavity is implemented. Finally, simulation on the melt flow injected into a microdisk cavity is performed using the proposed model and the results are found to be in good agreement with experiment. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:2012–2019, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers