Micro parts reinforced by addition of unidirectional whiskers in laser photolithography

Abstract

—Laser photolithography is a useful method for producing micro parts. One of the main factors affecting the accuracy of the polymer part is shrinkage during solidification. The shrinkage has an effect on the irradiated energy distribution on the polymer because the polymer is shrinking during the irradiation. The shrinkage and irradiated energy distribution cause manufacturing errors. The manufacturing accuracy when producing a micro part is calculated in this paper. Next, the polymer part is reinforced by addition of unidirectional whiskers. Whiskers are added to the liquid photopolymer and this mixture is placed in a vessel that has electrodes. By applying direct current (DC) to the electrodes, the axis of the whiskers in the liquid polymer is aligned along the direction of the electric field. The polymer is solidified by the irradiation of UV laser during the application of the direct current. The shrinkage ratio during the solidification is decreased and the tensile strength of the polymer part is increased by the addition of unidirectional whiskers.