Micro and nano sized features on surfaces enable new product functionalities. On the lab scale, this has been demonstrated for many applications e.g. for devices with tailored optical or mechanical properties. When process steps are scaled-up in order to establish high volume production, special care must be taken to guarantee the quality of the work pieces. When using (compression) injection moulding for mass production the melt viscosity is a key parameter to achieve good product qualities. In this paper, the impact of water absorption on melt viscosities and work piece qualities is evaluated. Qualitative and quantitative results are presented for micro needle arrays which are produced on the IMPRESS platform (compression injection moulding machine in combination with several peripheral modules).

This paper presents the work done within the IMPRESS project on the development of a technological injection moulding platform for the serial production of plastic components incorporating micro or nano scale functional features. Halfway through the duration of project, this platform built using the latest advanced in moulding technologies (injection moulding machine, online metrology equipment, online cleaning technology, and rapid heat and cool technologies) is ready for replication trials and some initial results are now available. The methodology elaborated jointly by PEP and Fraunhofer-IPA has emphasised the need to optimise the platform's numerous technologies processing parameters for the successful replication of micro and nano sized features. Using an array of microneedles as a case study some of the key moulding parameters have been identified. Due to the multitude of equipments, several Design of Experiments are required to optimise the moulding parameters of the three IMPRESS demonstrators: patch of hollow micro needles for drug delivery, patterned cell culture slide for genetic analysis and anti-reflective solar cell housing for photovoltaic modules.