Reducing rubber-plastic friction in syringes through microstructured surface design and manufacturing

Plastic syringes often rely on silicone oil lubrication to reduce plunger-barrel friction, leading to potential issues like oil droplet release and drug aggregation. This study explored an alternative approach combining two-photon polymerization, laser machining, and microinjection molding to manufacture micro-dimpled structures for low friction. Plastic microdimples with high area density and low aspect ratio significantly reduced the coefficient of friction against rubber, while the dimple profile proved crucial in facilitating replication and demolding. The results of this study provide valuable insights into reducing friction between rubber and plastic, particularly in applications like syringes. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of CIRP. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)