Huang Xing, Wang Pengfei, Liu Junfeng, Xu Fangmin, Liu Cong, Xu Zhongbin, Hou Zhanglin, Ye Fangfu
School of Engineering, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou, 310015, China.
Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou 325001, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Jun 22;14(24):28270-28279. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c04277. Epub 2022 Jun 9.
Patterning high-resolution microstructures on thermoplastic substrates is of fundamental importance for the commercialization of microfluidics, advanced functional surfaces, and optical elements. Though many methods are developed to fabricate micropatterned plastic devices with 100 μm resolution, they suffer substantially higher cost or lower productivity when the resolution of the micropatterns is to be further improved. Here, we develop low-cost molds consisting of thin ceramic-filled-epoxy composite coatings on steel substrates. By virtue of the loaded ZrO nanoparticle fillers, the enhanced mechanical and thermal properties of the composite molds enable the epoxy microstructures to survive harsh conditions in conventional thermoplastic processing methods including hot embossing, imprinting, and mold injection. With the ceramic-filled-epoxy coated molds, we are able to improve the fabrication resolution of microstructures on plastics to 10 μm with unprecedented low-cost and excellent durability.
在热塑性基板上制作高分辨率微结构对于微流体、先进功能表面和光学元件的商业化至关重要。尽管已经开发出许多方法来制造分辨率为100μm的微图案塑料器件，但当要进一步提高微图案的分辨率时，它们的成本会大幅提高或生产率会降低。在这里，我们开发了一种低成本模具，该模具由钢基板上的薄陶瓷填充环氧复合涂层组成。由于负载了ZrO纳米颗粒填料，复合模具增强的机械和热性能使环氧微结构能够在包括热压印、压印和注塑成型在内的传统热塑性加工方法的苛刻条件下存活下来。使用陶瓷填充环氧涂层模具，我们能够以前所未有的低成本和出色的耐用性将塑料上微结构的制造分辨率提高到10μm。
