Method of making a nozzle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9333598-B2
Application number	US-201013387550-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2010
Priority date	Jul 30, 2009
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A method of fabricating a nozzle that includes providing a first material capable of undergoing multiphoton reaction; forming a first microstructured pattern in the first material using a multiphoton process; replicating the first microstructured pattern in a second material to make a first mold comprising a second microstructured pattern in the second material; replicating the second microstructured pattern in a third material to make a second mold comprising a third microstructured pattern comprising microstructures in the third material; replicating the third microstructured pattern in a fourth material to make a replicated structure; planarizing the replicated structure to expose tops of the microstructures in the plurality of microstructures in the third microstructured pattern; and removing the third material resulting in the nozzle having a plurality of holes in the fourth material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a nozzle comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a first material capable of undergoing multiphoton reaction;
(b) forming a first microstructured pattern in the first material by selectively reacting the first material using a multiphoton process, where the multiphoton process confines a multiphoton reaction of the first material to separate focal regions of a focused beam of light;
(c) replicating the first microstructured pattern in a second material different than the first material to make a first mold comprising a second microstructured pattern of holes in the second material, with each hole only having a hole entry;
(d) replicating the second microstructured pattern in a third material different than the second material to make a second mold comprising a third microstructured pattern comprising a plurality of microstructures in the third material;
(e) replicating the third microstructured pattern in a fourth material different than the third material to make a replicated structure;
(f) planarizing the fourth material of the replicated structure to expose tops of the microstructures in the plurality of microstructures in the third microstructured pattern; and
(g) removing the third material resulting in the nozzle having a plurality of through-holes in the fourth material and corresponding to the plurality of microstructures in the third microstructured pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of forming the first microstructured pattern in the first material comprises exposing at least a portion of the first material to cause a simultaneous absorption of multiple photons.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of forming the first microstructured pattern in the first material comprises removing the exposed portions of the first material.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of forming the first microstructured pattern in the first material comprises removing the unexposed portions of the first material.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first microstructured pattern comprises a plurality of discrete microstructures, and the plurality of discrete microstructures comprises a discrete spiraling microstructure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein replicating the first microstructured pattern in the second material comprises electroplating the first microstructured pattern.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second microstructured pattern is substantially a negative replica of the first microstructured pattern.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of replicating the second microstructured pattern in the third material comprises injection molding.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second mold comprises a polymer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of replicating the third microstructured pattern comprises electroplating the third microstructured pattern or coating the third microstructured pattern with the fourth material.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of replicating the third microstructured pattern comprises electroplating the third microstructured pattern with the fourth material.

Assignees

• Carpenter Barry S
• Willoughby Jaime B
• Sahlin Jennifer J
• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Carpenter Barry S
• Willoughby Jaime B
• Sahlin Jennifer J

Classifications

• F02M61/184

  Discharge orifices having non circular sections · CPC title

• C25D5/48

  After-treatment of electroplated surfaces · CPC title

• C23C14/14

  Metallic material, boron or silicon · CPC title

• F02M2200/8069

  involving removal of material from the fuel apparatus, e.g. by punching, hydro-erosion or mechanical operation · CPC title

• F02M61/168

  Assembling; Disassembling; Manufacturing; Adjusting · CPC title