Advanced micro injection moulding solutions according to the European MICROMAN project

Antonio Luca, PhD student at Laboratory for Precision Machining (LFM) of University of Bremen, working in the European project MICROMAN, is developing new methods to enhance the production quality of polymeric micro components. He is an Early Stage Researcher (ESR), operating under the supervision of Dr.-Ing. Oltmann Riemer. His industrial partners are Polyoptics GmbH, a leading specialist supplier for optical components and systems and DESMA TEC, an injection moulding machine manufacturer.

 

“The support I received from the MICROMAN supervisors and ESRs during the internal meetings is fundamental for the development of my research activity”, says the PhD student, “The professional knowledge acquired through the workshops significantly contribute to the achievement of my research results”.

 

Antonio is dealing with micro injection moulding, a micro manufacturing process employed for the production of plastic micro components, which are particularly required in the automotive, medical and biotechnology industry. The actual state-of-the-art does not encompass fast and robust in-line monitoring techniques to inspect the quality of micro moulded parts. The aim of his research work is to find new solutions to reduce time and effort for the quality inspection of micro moulded parts by applying new in-line monitoring techniques.

 

Antonio performing experiments with the DESMA formicaPlast 2K micro injection moulding machine at Laboratory for Precision Machining.

 

 

 

 

Mateo Klemmayer, CEO Polyoptics GmbH:

“Polyoptics GmbH has widely extended its knowledge on micro injection moulding technology with the support of the MICROMAN project, paying special attention to process settings and monitoring in polymeric micro component production. At Polyoptics we always look for new technological solutions for the production of optical micro components. It has been a great opportunity to cooperate with Antonio who has sustained us to expand our micro injection moulding capabilities. I would like to praise Antonio especially for his talent to combine the required tasks of the MICROMAN project with the Polyoptics’s micro manufacturing needs.”

 

Fun Facts

In the first two years of the project Antonio has:

  • Given 2 oral presentations at international conferences and scientific events
  • Presented 1 posters at international events
  • Presented so far to a total audience of 400 people
  • Moulded and measured 3000 micro parts