Supporting design of primary shaped micro parts and systems through provision of experience

Nowadays, miniaturization is one observable trend in the development of new technical systems. Based on the miniaturization of existing macroscopic production technologies e.g. powder injection molding, a new process chain for the development of primary shaped microparts and systems is being developed in the collaborative research center 499 “design, production and quality assurance of molded micro components made of metallic and ceramic materials”. Because of the constantly evolving miniaturization and growing complexity of the developed microparts and systems, new development processes and methods are needed. Because of the mostly restrictive influence of the downstream phases (production and quality assurance) over the design phase, micro-specific design processes require well-founded knowledge about micro-specific manufacturing techniques (e.g. restrictions) which may be stored in form of design rules. However, many micro-specific aspects cannot be represented in design rules. In this paper the authors propose a new approach to ensure this other kind of knowledge.