Development of Plastic Microneedles for Transdermal Interfacing Using Injection Molding Techniques

Abstract

This paper presents microfabricated plastic microneedles with through-hole capillaries using high aspect ratio microinjection molding technique and subsequent laser drilling technique. The microneedles mold was fabricated by micromachining on nickel and aluminum mold disks for various plastic microneedle structures. Cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were used as the fabrication materials of the needles. Laser drilling was done on the cone shaped needle for obtaining through-hole capillaries. Experiments were performed to characterize the microneedles and numerical simulations were performed to predict the mechanical strength of the fabricated microneedle. The plastic microneedles fabricated using injection molding techniques show a feasibility for the practical applications of the microneedles in low-cost.