Polymeric molds and articles made therefrom

Abstract

Disclosed herein are polymeric molds that can be used to make molded articles. The polymer mold is made of a cyclic olefin polymer that can be formed from a polycyclic monomer having two or more reactive double bonds and a cyclic monomer containing one reactive double bond. Ring metathesis polymerization (ROMP) formation. Fluorinated monomers can be used. The polymeric molds may be structured molds in that they have microstructured features with at least one dimension less than about 2 mm or less than about 500 μm. The polymer mold can also have many of these microstructured features. Also disclosed herein are methods of making polymeric molds, methods of making molded articles therefrom, and molded articles.

Description

[0001] Cross references to related patent applications

[0002] This application is related to commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 61 / 074,428 (Rule et al.), entitled "Molded Microstructured Articles," filed on the same date as this application . technical field

[0003] This application relates to polymer molds, and in particular to polymer molds made from cyclic olefin polymers. Polymer molds can be used to make molded articles with microstructured features. Background technique

[0004] Polymer molds are usually made of silicone rubber and polyurethane rubber. Silicone rubbers tend to have high oxygen solubility, which may undesirably lead to inhibition of free radical curing reactions for making molded articles from silicone rubber molds. If a molded article is prepared by curing a silicone resin material in a silicone rubber mold, the adhesion between the two silicon substances may cause difficulty in releasing the molded article. Additi...

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