MICRO MOULDING | ARTICLE The Sonorus 1G Machine


The Sonorus 1G ultrasonic moulding machine is fully electric, silent, clean and efficient. It uses a clamping force of 30 kN (3 ton), a maximum injection pressure of 500 bar, and maximum ultrasound power of 1500 W. The equipment can be used in cleanroom or non-cleanroom conditions without adaptation, and mould dimensions of 100 x 100 x 100 mm can be achieved. All thermoplastics can be moulded, and the machine uses a 2-axis fast “Pick and Place” system to eject the micro parts. It has a small footprint being 800 mm long, 850 mm wide and 1800 mm high.


The nature of the technology — with the plastic being melted within the mould — means that there is substantial sprue reduction. Using ultrasonics for micro moulding, 60% less sprue is produced than that associated with traditional micro moulding machines. The Sonorus 1G can accommodate shot volumes up to 1.2 cm3


(approximately 1.5 g shot weight). Conclusions


Ultrasion’s micro moulding technology represents a new and innovative approach to micro plastic part manufacture, and as an alternative to traditional micro injection moulding technologies exhibits significant advantages in terms of power consumption, reduced material wastage and reduced tooling costs.


Perhaps of most interest, however, is that the nature of the process, and especially the reduced viscosity charateristics that ultrasonics can achieve as the melting agent, opens up the possibility of part design and part characteristics that have hitherto been unattainable. It is here that the interest that Ultrasion is attracting from OEMs across industry is focused, most especially in the areas of medical devices and micro fluidics.


About the Author Enric Sirera is the Sales Director at Ultrasion SL, Barcelona, Spain. He was previously the EMEA Business Manager at Husky Injection Molding Systems, and also Director of Sales Europe (EMEA) at Moldflow Corporation.


References 1. R. Surface, G. Trotta, V


“The nature of the technology — with the plastic being melted within the mould — means that there is substantial sprue reduction. Using ultrasonics for micro moulding, 60% less sprue is produced than that associated with traditional micro moulding machines.”


. Bellantone,


echnologies – Trends, Innovations and Research, Prof Constatin Volosencu (Ed).


and I. Fassi. (2012). The Micro Injection Moulding Process for Polymeric Components Manufacturing, New T


2. Matías Sacristán, Xavier Plantá, Mireia Morell, Jordi Puiggalí. (2013) Effects of ultrasonic vibration on the micro-molding


processing of polylactide. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 21 (2014) 376–386


<< Figure 4: Part produced by ultrasonic micro moulding on the Sonorus 1G machine. >>


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