Micro-embossing of micro-structures in RSA-501 as mold inserts for the replication of micro-lens arrays

The production of mold inserts for the replication of micro-lens arrays through micro-embossing could be an alternative process route compared to diamond turning or milling in order to reduce time and costs. The rapidly solidified aluminum alloy RSA-501 is expected to form micro-structures with low surface roughness because of its ultra-fine grain structure. In micro-embossing challenges like elastic spring back effect, pile-ups, and forming accuracy depend on the material behavior. Therefore, RSA-501 was further characterized and the influence of polishing or flycutting on the material behavior was investigated. To further understand the grain and microstructure samples were sectioned along their cross and longitudinal directions. The grain structure of RSA-501 was oriented along the extrusion direction and the mean grain sizes were <1.00 μm. Furthermore, RSA-501 was micro-embossed to investigate the influence of the material behavior and surface preparation on the forming of micro-structures. The induced surface integrity through flycutting was not deep enough to influence the forming of micro-structures. Therefore, the workpiece surface can be prepared either by polishing or flycutting. When micro-embossing RSA-501, cross and longitudinal sections can be used. However, it is recommended to process the cross section because of its isotropic grain structure. It was shown that the curvature radius of micro-embossed concave structures differs from the tool radius. This is due to the elastic spring back effect. Since the embossed structure remains spherical, the spring back effect can be compensated by adjusting the tool radius.