In Mold Electronics (IME) technology, also known as &#;plastronics,&#; combines electronics with plastic to achieve high-performance products that integrate functionality and design.
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It combines functional printing with electronic component hybridization, all using traditional transformation processes such as injection molding. This helps create lightweight devices with specific functions.
In recent years, efforts have been made to develop electrically conductive plastic materials and flexible printed electronics for integration into plastic parts.
Essentially, this work aims to create new products using conductive plastic materials and composite materials. These materials are based on conductive nanocarriers such as CNTs and carbon fiber, used for lightweight electromagnetic shielding.
IME also seeks to develop printed flexible electronics (capacitive sensors and sliders) integrated into plastic materials through In Mold Electronics. This achieves capacitive surfaces that enhance human-machine interaction (HMI), promoting mobility and transportation.
Processes in In Mold Electronics
This method begins with screen printing a PC or PE film with a decorative design. Subsequently, circuits, sensors, and conductive tracks are printed using materials such as silver, copper, and carbon, combined with conductive and dielectric pastes.
Once the cured plates are ready, the printed films are thermoformed into a 3D shape. These 3D shapes are placed in the injection mold, where resin is injected into the back of the shapes.
This results in a rigid plastic piece with an incorporated application. All elements on the surface of the piece, such as connectors and LED lights, are placed once the shaping and molding operations are completed, making the piece more functional.
Advantages of IME technology
Plastronics or In Mold Electronics offers significant advantages that add value to products. Here are some of the most important advantages provided by IME:
Lightweight pieces: Applying In Mold Electronics technology reduces the weight and dimensions of the final product. Additionally, post-processing operations are eliminated by directly incorporating electronic circuits into the injected piece during the molding process, resulting in flexible and lightweight products.
Cost reduction: This technique combines in-mold decoration technology with printed electronics, resulting in benefits such as reducing overall system costs, developing more flexible designs, and increasing manufacturing productivity. This optimization leads to time, material, and cost savings.
Advanced performance and functionality: In Mold technology eliminates buttons and various layers involved in assembling traditional electronic switches, replacing them with pre-integrated parts and capacitive surfaces. This achieves lighter, functional, and visually appealing pieces.
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Beneficial to various industries: This technology can be used to manufacture instrument panels and interior decorative parts in automotive applications, ambient lighting and touch controls in appliance fronts. It is also used in healthcare applications, integrating electronics into various medical devices for patient monitoring.
In conclusion, IME is the technology of the new era, making it possible to incorporate functionality into complex, lightweight, and thin parts. It simplifies the integration of electronics into the final piece by using fewer materials and components. This technology is an excellent option for merging electronics with different devices used in transportation, healthcare, white goods, mobility, and other industries.
Walter Pack specializes in incorporating IME into various types of critical parts in various industry sectors, primarily automotive and home appliances. We provide innovative technology that simplifies people&#;s lifestyles by integrating In Mold Electronics into control panels, electronic boards, indicators, and more.
Smooth, functional surfaces that provide touch sensing, often with backlighting, are becoming increasingly common. Applications range from vehicle interiors and domestic appliances to medical devices and aircraft seating. Rather than relying on a mechanical or membrane switch, these surfaces utilize capacitive touch sensing &#; the same principle used in smartphone displays. Capacitive sensing and backlighting of course require electronics behind the decorative exterior surface: in-mold electronics is an emerging manufacturing approach that promises to make functional surfaces cheaper, lighter, and more aesthetically pleasing.
As the name suggests, in-mold electronics (IME) is a manufacturing method in which at least some of the electronics are subjected to a molding process. Typically, this starts with screen printing the desired pattern of conductive ink onto a substrate (often polycarbonate) &#; these conductive patterns enable capacitive touch sensing. Next, a decorative layer is applied to the front, and the conductively patterned substrate is thermoformed to produce the required curvature. A subsequent injection molding step is often applied. This approach of integrating electronics into the molded part contrasts with conventional electronics manufacturing techniques, in which decorative user-facing parts would be molded, and a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted onto the back afterward.
Why risk subjecting the electronics to this molding process when a PCB behind a decorative surface would often suffice? Depending on the approach used, IME enables a weight and material consumption reduction of up to 70% relative to conventional mechanical switches. Furthermore, since fewer individual parts are required, both assembly and associated supply chains can be simpler. Given these advantages, along with growing engagement from both suppliers and integrators, IDTechEx forecast the market for IME parts that incorporates SMD (surface mount device) components to reach around US$2bn by .
Within the umbrella term of &#;in-mold electronics,&#; there are many subtly different manufacturing approaches. Establishing which approach has been used is often tricky since the resulting functional surfaces look extremely similar. Two key variables are whether and at what point SMD components such as LEDs are mounted, and whether injection molding is utilized.
Arguably the most comprehensive approach to IME, developed by Tactotek and termed IMSE (in-mold structural electronics), involves mounting SMD components on a flat substrate prior to thermoforming. This is followed by injection molding, embedding the components and conductive traces in plastic. The process results in a robust part with fully enclosed electronics, potentially including an integrated circuit.
A competing strategy is to mount the SMD components onto an already thermoformed part and neglect the injection molding. This requires a thicker polymeric substrate to provide sufficient rigidity, which generally reduces the degree of distortion and curvature that can be introduced via thermoforming. Furthermore, SMD components can only be mounted via pick and place on regions that remain flat. However, for many applications, only slight curvature around the perimeter or in other specific locations is required, and since mounted components will not be subjected to the heat and pressure associated with molding material specifications and design rules may be more forgiving.
The simplest approach to IME is to omit the SMD components altogether. Decorative surfaces with integrated capacitive touch can be produced relatively straightforwardly by first screen printing conductive ink then thermoforming the substrate. Subsequent injection molding is optional. While these parts would require conventional electronics for backlighting, they represent an intermediate step between purely decorative and fully functional surfaces that can meet the needs of simpler use cases.
The wide variety of competing manufacturing approaches to in-mold electronics doesn&#;t imply a Darwinian scenario with only one winner &#; each approach offers a different balance of cost, form factor complexity, functionality, robustness and size/weight reduction that can meet a particular need. Overall, IDTechEx envisages a gradual trend towards greater functionality integration since it offers the most scope material and weight reduction but with greater adoption barriers than simpler manufacturing approaches.
IDTechEx&#;s new report, &#;In-Mold Electronics -,&#; draws on more than 20 company profiles, the majority based on interviews, to explore this emerging manufacturing methodology. This comprehensive report evaluates the technical processes, material requirements and applications. It includes 10-year market forecasts by manufacturing methodology and application sector, expressed as both revenue and functional surface area. Furthermore, the report provides a detailed evaluation of competing approaches, such as functional film bonding and the merits of including components such as LEDs within the IME parts.
To find out more, visit www.IDTechEx.com/IME.
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