Steve Hill looks at the new field of micromoulding
and talks to a leading company in the field, Sovrin Plastics,
about the capabilities and possibilities of the new technology.
Size,
it is said isn't everything, and that is certainly true in the case
of the latest developments in injection moulding. The emerging micro
moulding is taking injection moulding technology down to a new scale
and a new level of intricacy and accuracy that has simply not been
possible until now. Parts weighing no more than a few thousandths
of a gram and with details measuring only a few microns thick are
being to be produced commercially by companies pioneering the new
technology. This 'next big thing' in injection moulding needs a microscope
for closer inspection.
Sovrin
Plastics based in Slough, is the first company in the UK to commission
a new system specifically designed for producing micro mouldings and
is at the forefront of the commercialisation of these components.
The company has installed a Battenfeld Microsystem 50 in order to
produce parts for a range of industries including telecommunications,
medical devices and electronics. 'There has been a huge amount of
interest shown already' says Peter Wigmore, Sovrin Plastics Sales
Manager. Wigmore experienced this interest first hand in February
this year, at the Medical Device Technology show, were he spent two
days fielding non-stop enquiries about the capabilities of the new
system. Clearly there is a enormous market for these tiny parts.
But
what exactly are micro-mouldings? How does the new technology differ
from making very small or 'mini' injection mouldings? 'The industry
has to define what it means by a micro moulding,' says Alan Griffiths,
former Chairman of the Institute of Materials Plastics Design committee.
'It is not just a case of scaling everything down. You have to look
at everything from scratch, including tooling, moulding materials,
as well as parts handling and inspection equipment.' In other words
micro moulding should be seen as a specialist technique in its own
right, with a different set of challenges to standard injection moulding.
'It's a totally new division to the industry ' says James Joiner of
Sovrin Plastics. 'Micro moulding is a separate entity.'
