Develoment and Characterisation of electroformed tools for micro injection moulding

In order to replicate master microcomponents accurately by injection moulding a new set of processes for electrochemical deposition of nickel and nickel alloys must be developed.
The microcomponent masters will be fabricated at several different sources, while the nickel tools is the main focus area of the project.
The most important material properties for the tools are; internal stress, materiale distribution, hardness, corrosion and wear resistance and more generally the ability to replicate a conduction surface accurately.
The objective of the project is to be able to replicate, with extreme accuracy, complex optical, mechanical and fluidic devices - and thereby create tools for injection moulding of thousands of plastic micro components.