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Mould and die making, machining, CAD/CAM, software
News Release from: Engis (UK) | Subject: MEC Cardiff
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 February 2005
Micro machining at centre of excellence
The award-winning, Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) at Cardiff University, is working closely with Engis UK in its pursuit of ever smaller manufacturing moulds and tooling.
The award-winning, Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) at Cardiff University, is working closely with Engis UK in its pursuit of ever smaller manufacturing moulds and tooling The MEC, which was established in 1996, employs 80 full-time engineers and researchers and specializes in rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, multi axis machining, tooling, micro machining, micro tooling and micro-manufacturing
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 8 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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In order to undertake this large workload the MEC has invested in an extensive range of machining equipment, including an Engis lapping machine.
Mr Atanas Ivanov, Senior Researcher of the MEC, explained; "We undertake a great deal of research in the micro manufacturing sector, particularly testing alternatives to silicon, and we had come to the conclusion that our conventional grinding and finishing equipment was not adequate for work on micro-tooling, so we needed to look for a better solution".
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" In Engis UK we found much more than a supplier, we found a partner with whom we can work closely and whose expertise in the field of grinding and finishing has proved invaluable." The current work on micro-tooling at MEC is the result of a logical progression which started in the early 1990s with rapid prototyping.
So successful was this initiative that by 1996 MEC could claim to be the largest RPD bureau in the UK.
The next step was to move into short production runs, necessitating the design and manufacture of tooling.
The Centre took up this new challenge and invested in the additional technology required in order to offer SMEs a full service from 3D CAD modeling, through prototype development, which by then included SLA, SLS, FDM, Thermojet and Patternmaster technologies, and into small-scale production.
Having developed its expertise in RPD and toolmaking, MEC turned its attention to the opportunities in micro and nano-manufacture, with its estimated global market of $ 40B, currently growing at 20% per annum *.
In general, these products can be divided into two categories, firstly, those where a larger version already functions, but which could be made smaller, for example components in mobile telephones and secondly, products which can only function at all at a very small scale, for example medical equipment that uses capillary force as part of its process.
Manufacturing such micro-items poses great challenges, for example it may not be possible to physically eject the moulded items from the mould and they must be "sucked out" by vacuum.
If the item becomes stuck the mould is so small that the part cannot be removed and the mould must therefore be scrapped.
Mould surface finish is critical to this vacuum extraction process and extreme smoothness is required.
The usual measurement of flat surface smoothness, Ra, is not entirely satisfactory at this scale as it is represents an average figure, which may obscure unacceptable variations.
Current working smoothness for micro-machine surfaces is usually less than 0.1 Ra, but Ivanov believes measuring smoothness in Rz or Ry may prove to be more satisfactory in these applications.
The situation is even more complex when measuring the surface of micro-cavities, for which there is as yet no satisfactory measurement.
Academic research is being undertaken to define a workable measuring standard.
As a result of working closely together during the last couple of years, Engis UK is now an associate partner with MEC in the European-funded Multi Material Micro Manufacture project, the aim of which is to develop Micro- and Nano-Technology (MNT) for the batch-manufacture of micro-components and devices in a variety of materials.
Engis and MEC are together developing 'jetting' technology for use in cleaning and polishing micro tools using an Engis' Megasonic nozzle and a nano-particle slurry.
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