Multifunction tool and planar insert design

A multifunctional tool design will be developed and manufactured to study the influence of process variants (rapid mould temperature cycling, inductive heating, injection compression, cavity evacuation, ultrasonic ejection) on the replication of patterns produced on simple inserts. The tool design will be a small scale, low cost concept that can accept a standard insert, allowing parallel studies on different moulding hardware at the UBradford and IPC facilities. Multiple variants of the insert will have a range of surface geometries and laser-prepared patterns which are representative of the end user devices.