In the present study, a hot embossing process employing a hydrophilic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold was investigated considering the effect of the surface wettability of the mold on the replication quality of microfeatures. To turn the hydrophobicity of native PDMS into hydrophilicity, Silwet L-77 was employed as a surfactant in preparing a mold for a microcavity. Hot embossing experiments imprinting the microfeature onto thermoplastic sheets were performed with both a surfactant-modified mold and a native PDMS mold. A design of the experiment approach based on an orthogonal array was employed to investigate the effects of the relevant factors, including wettability and processing parameters. The characteristic dimensions of the hot-embossed microfeature were measured to evaluate the replication quality. The increased wettability of the PDMS mold surface was found to efficiently improve the replication quality of the microfeature. The major processing parameters of the hot embossing process, such as the embossing temperature, pressure, and time, were also investigated.

中文翻译：

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添加表面活性剂的亲水性聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）作为热塑性热压花工艺的模具材料

在本研究中，考虑到模具的表面润湿性对微特征复制质量的影响，研究了使用亲水性聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）模具的热压花工艺。为了将天然PDMS的疏水性转变为亲水性，在制备用于微腔的模具时，将Silwet L-77用作表面活性剂。用表面活性剂改性的模具和天然PDMS模具进行将微特征压印到热塑性片材上的热压花实验。设计了一种基于正交阵列的实验方法，以研究相关因素的影响，包括润湿性和加工参数。测量热压纹微特征的特征尺寸，以评估复制质量。发现PDMS模具表面的增加的润湿性有效地改善了微特征的复制质量。还研究了热压花工艺的主要加工参数，例如压花温度，压力和时间。