The starlim//sterner group is the world’s biggest moulder of technical articles made of liquid silicone rubber. As a partner of the leading companies of the automotive, Life Sciences and industry sector, starlim//sterner takes over full responsibility from development to production orders – from idea to product design, in-house tool engineering up to automated high volume production.
starlim//sterner, which is based in Marchtrenk/Austria, also leads the way with regard to the processing of liquid silicone, as impressively demonstrated by its latest innovation - micro injection moulding.
This consists of micro-components weighing less than 10 mg, which are manufactured in serial production quality using a special injection moulding machine. Indeed, the micro moulding of LSR components constitutes a new development.
With the naked eye it is almost impossible to recognize the fact that a part with dimensions of just a few millimetres has high-precision recesses or undercuts that are identical to those familiar from large components. What is more, such micro-components, which are used for example in watches, electrical micro-housings, insulin pumps, hearing aids and other medical devices, can even be produced using two-component technology, either in thermoplastic LSR, or in an LSR-LSR combination.
Micro moulding is known in the branch and thermoplastic parts with micro-structured surfaces, micro-precision moulded parts with tolerances in the micrometre range, as well as injection moulded, mass produced micro-components with a minimal weight of 10mg, are already being manufactured. However, silicone components are subject to other laws and starlim//sterner is the first company to have succeeded in producing LSR micro-components with a weight of less than 10mg in large runs. In addition, all the LSR hardness degrees from 20-80 Shore-A can be employed.