Polymer Engineering Center > Research > Further Development of the LIGA Process

One of the goals of this project is establishing instrumental approaches for mechanical testing of polymeric and metal structures associated with the LIGA process. This includes study of adhesion of photo-resist and microstructures, elastic properties and mechanical strength of micro-machined parts. This stage of the project involves familiarization with existing expertise in LIGA process and adapting rheological and mechanical testing instrumentation to microscale measurements. Another stage of this project is combining LIGA process and micro EDM with the goal of introduction new materials such as stainless and instrumental steel in micromachining technologies. This will make possible forming of high precision/micro stamps for compression molding of polymeric materials. These stamps will be tested and used for molding of various polymeric materials in cooperative project with Prof. T. Osswald. This project requires an expertise in polymer rheology, micro rheology, and polymeric materials. Applications of this research: high precision polymer processing, micro-machining technology involving new materials and mass production of MEMS systems. A major focus of this research is application of field controllable materials in micro scale devices. This includes developing micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) relying on electro and magnetoactive materials, utilizing electrostriction and magnetostriction phenomena for pressure, stress and tactile sensors, fully integrated sensor and actuator array systems, solutions for sensor-less control technologies.