The purpose of this work is to develop manufacturing techniques of diffraction optical elements (DOE) and compare the performance of micro injection (/compression) molded products. The DOE mold was fabricated by LIGA-like lithography technique. The optical performance of molded products strongly depends on the replication degree of micro patterns on the surface of DOE. Because of the complex micro patterns on the surface of the DOE, it is very difficult to measure the degree of duplication by traditional microscope measurement like SEM or AFM etc. In this work, a laser computer imaging system was developed to evaluate optical performance of molded parts directly. To achieve better duplication degree and properties of molded DOE, Taguchi's method was employed in the experiments to examine the effects of processing conditions on the performance of molded DOE. Residual stresses of different molded products were measured by a photo-elasticity system. Experimental results reveals that residual stresses of micro injection compression molded elements are much less than those of the micro injection molded ones. This is because compression process provides a higher and more uniform pressure distribution inside the cavity and it can help reduce the unbalanced shrinkage and residual stresses. Compression speed dominates the cavity pressure distribution and becomes the most important factor of final DOE's optical properties.
For low impact docking systems (LIDS) developing for rendezvous and docking of spacecraft, the main interface docking seal (MID seal) is one of the key components, and its seal and adhesion performances are crucial for mating LIDS-adapted spacecrafts. An elastomeric seal-on-seal structure is one of the mainstream designs of the MID seal and is generally made of silicone rubbers that can adapt to complex space environments. For the MID seal of seal-on-seal structure, the adhesion performance has been confirmed to have significant effects on the separation reliability of mating spacecrafts. By analyzing the sealing and adhesive mechanisms of the MID seal that is an elastomeric seal-on-seal structure, an adhesive contact model of single rough peak is derived on the grounds of Johnson, Kendall and Roberts (JKR) theory. Utilizing the asperities model and the adhesive contact model of single rough peak, an adhesive contact model of the elastomeric seal-on-seal structure is further proposed. The experiments were performed to verify the adhesion model, and the satisfied consistencies were presented in the comparative studies of the experimental data and the calculated data. Based on the proposed mathematical model, the simulation analyses were performed to disclosure adhesive performances of the MID seal. The influence rules of some parameters on adhesive performances were presented, including material parameters, geometric parameters, and parameters of surface morphology. The research findings are proven to be favorable for the design, machining, assemblage and actual service of the MID seal, and can be also used for other elastomeric seals.
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