We present a method for the fabrication of plastic microfluidic devices based on nanoembossing and thermal bonding. By nanoembossing of thermoplastic polymer pellets, both microfluidic deep channels and high resolution features can be formed using a silicon mold fabricated by electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching. By thermal bonding with another plastic sheet, the fabricated microfluidic devices can be sealed without clogging. Observation of pressure driven and electrokinetic flows through high density pillar arrays indicates the feasibility of nanofluidic analysis using plastic devices.
A thermoplastic forming (TPF) map of a Zr 35 Ti 30 Be 26.75 Cu 8.25 bulk metallic glass was constructed through systematic hot-embossing experiments, spanning a wide range of strain rates and temperatures in the supercooled liquid region. By comparison with the corresponding deformation map, it is found that Newtonian flow, non-Newtonian flow and inhomogeneous flow regions correspond well to fully filled, partially filled and non-filled regions, respectively, in the hot-embossing TPF map. Furthermore, the spatio-temporally homogeneous flow facilitates the thermoplastic formabillity of the Zr-based bulk metallic glass, which is rationalized in terms of free volume theory as well as by finite element simulations. Finally, our results are corroborated by potential application tests.
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