Development of in-mold assembly process for realizing mesoscale revolute joints

In-mold Assembly process at the mesoscalepresents several manufacturing challenges.
Results reported in this paper demonstrate the
technical feasibility of creating rigid body
mesoscale revolute joints using In-Mold
Assembly process. The following new results
are reported in this paper. First, we describe a
mold design with varying cavity shape to
perform In-Mold Assembly. This mold design
uses an accurate mold piece positioning method
to avoid damage to delicate mesoscale parts
during the cavity change step. Second, we
describe a mold insert fabrication process for
making mold inserts with the desired surface
characteristics for mesoscale molding. Finally,
we describe methods to limit the adhesion at the
interfaces and hence create articulated revolute
joint. Using the advances reported in this paper
we have successfully molded a mesoscale
revolute joint. To the best of our knowledge, this
is the first demonstration of In-Mold Assembly
process using a varying cavity shape mold to
create a mesoscale revolute joint.