Electroforming Applied to Manufacturing of Microcomponents

Abstract

Nowadays, there is an increased demand for micro-products and micro-components in many industry sectors therefore development of advanced manufacturing technologies and metrological instrumentation in this range, have thus become a critical issue and an engineering challenge. If a product cannot be measured, although it might be manufactured, it would not be possible to analyse its design in order to improve its functionality. Electroforming could be defined as the highly specialized use of electrodeposition for the manufacturing of metal parts. Due to progress in materials, processes and equipment, electroforming has shown considerable development. Consequently, electroforming is increasingly combined with other micro-manufacturing technologies, giving rise to other processes such as LIGA and UV-LIGA. Thanks to the accumulated experience of Fabricación Integrada y Avanzada research group, of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the electroforming process focused on macro-scale, as well as specific equipment available, this paper aims to analyse the potential of electroforming process for micro-injection mould manufacturing.