Direct molding of polymers for biomedical applications

Direct molding is a simple molding process to produce small parts at low costs. A single pellet or few pellets are directly molded into a transparent mound by means of an IR lamp. A new micro-molding machine has been developed for this study and used to mound polymers for biomedical applications (PCL and PHBV). Due to the small amount of molded material, the proposed process is particular suitable for biomedical applications which are characterized by small numbers of parts and high costs of the raw materials. Moreover, direct molding is able to reduce material degradation and frozen stresses. The new machine has been used to mold small disks from single pellets. This way, the effect of the main process parameters on the molded polymer density has been evaluated. Moreover, DSC analyses have shown the effect of the molding process on the polymer properties. In conclusion, the micro-molding system has been used to produce small components which were tested in terms of dimensional stability and mechanical performances.