Cells respond to mechanical forces by deforming in accordance with viscoelastic solid behavior. Studies of microscale cell deformation observed by high speed video microscopy have elucidated a new cell behavior in which sufficiently rapid mechanical compression of cells can lead to transient cell volume loss and then recovery. This work has discovered that the resulting volume exchange between the cell interior and the surrounding fluid can be utilized for efficient, convective delivery of large macromolecules (2000 kDa) to the cell interior. However, many fundamental questions remain about this cell behavior, including the range of deformation time scales that result in cell volume loss and the physiological effects experienced by the cell. In this study, a relationship is established between cell viscoelastic properties and the inertial forces imposed on the cell that serves as a predictor of cell volume loss across human cell types. It is determined that cells maintain nuclear envelope integrity and demonstrate low protein loss after the volume exchange process. These results define a highly controlled cell volume exchange mechanism for intracellular delivery of large macromolecules that maintains cell viability and function for invaluable downstream research and clinical applications.

The polymer melts viscous dissipation effects of micro scale dimensions are different from that of macro-scale dimensions. In this paper, the temperature rises due to viscous dissipation were investigated when amorphous polymer material, PMMA, flows through several micro-channels with the diameters of 350μm, 500μm and different aspect ratios. The results indicate that, temperature rises reduce with the increase of inlet temperature of melt and increase with increasing channel’s diameter and aspect ratio at the same shear rate. The outlet temperature rises due to viscous dissipation in all micro channels increase with the increase of shear rate. In addition, the outlet temperature rise grows faster with the decrease of micro-channel’s diameter. Therefore, viscous dissipation effect is significant and should not be neglected in micro channel.

Studies on the rheological behaviour of polymer melts, flowing through microchannels, are complicated because a large number of factors affect the melt viscosity. One such factor, viscous dissipation, is investigated in the current work through a novel experimental technique that is used in determining the viscous dissipation of a polymer melt flowing through microchannels. Relative tests are conducted using melts of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) extruded through several capillary dies at different temperatures. Experimental results indicate that the temperature rises due to viscous dissipation increase with increasing shear rate. In addition, simulations considering viscous dissipation are carried out. The comparison of the experimental results with those predicted from the simulations at different melt temperatures indicates that the maximum temperature rise deviation is about 15 per cent. Therefore, the measurement method of viscous dissipation is available, which is helpful to better understand the flow characteristics of microchannels.

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