Miniaturization of parts and components is a continuing trend in technology. Various industrial fields such as telecommunication, medical, bio-chemistry and automotive have an increasing demand for smaller and smaller technical devices. They require an economical mass manufacturing technology for small components within tight tolerances. Micro molding is the most promising and perhaps the only technology to be considered. But shrinking the size of conventional molds to enable manufacturing of micrometer featured parts requires suitable micro mold production technologies.

Currently, LAUNCH-MICRO, a European Integrated Project addresses exactly this challenging task. Three different technologies for micro molding tool fabrication are under the scope of the project – micro milling, micro laser ablation and micro EDM. The main focus is development, manufacturing and testing of demonstrators. Prototypes are aimed for industrial application, yet highly precise at the state-of-the-art forefront, combining free-form high precision micro machining with high dynamics, in other words, quality production at high rates. Currently conducted R&D lines, to name a few, comprise: aerostatic guiding and bearing systems, nano resolution positioning systems, micro fixturing systems, thermal control, in-process tool monitoring, high performance materials, manufacturing protocols and calibration standards.

The main aim of LAUNCH-MICRO is knowledge transfer to the European machine tool SME, tool and component manufacturers, in order to gain a high degree of competitiveness when micro manufacturing at mass scale becomes a reality. The application sectors are widespread, although it is principally directed towards the micro molding tool fabrication.

The LAUNCH-MICRO consortium is comprised of 28 partners, from which 20 are SME, most within the machine tool sector, and eight are research institutions and high education centers, overall representing six European countries.