A Rapid and Low Cost Manufacturing for Polymeric Microfluidic Devices

Chen, Pin Chuan; Wang, Zhi Ping

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.579.348

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The technologies used in the fabrication of polymer-based microfluidic devices can be divided into four categories: photolithography, replication, micromachining, 5,6 and layer-on-layer manufacturing. 7,8 Replication is the prevailing process for mass production, using a master mold and methods that include injection molding, hot embossing, and casting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of PDMS passive micromixer by lost-wax casting

Chung

Chen

et al. 2015

Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf.

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Microfluidic devices have attracted considerable attention for their applicability in disease detection, health care, and environmental monitoring. However, manufacturing at the microscale can be exceedingly difficult, particularly when dealing with devices with an intricate geometry. Most of the manufacturing methods used for microfluidic devices are unable to produce anything more complex than a simple 2.5D structure, which necessitates the bonding of multiple layers to produce a complete 3D structure. This study employs the lost-wax casting method, which is commonly used for the precision casting of metals, in the fabrication of a passive micromixer with two-layer structure using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in a single-step process. The wax pattern was obtained by injection molding, whereupon PDMS was cast in the mold to produce a micromixer after dewaxing. Our results demonstrate the high fidelity of the replication process from the wax pattern to the PDMS micromixer. Furthermore, with the exception of the glass cover, no bonding is required to join multiple layers in the formation of the structure. Compared to other microfabrication methods, such as molding injection and hot embossing, the lost-wax casting method in this study is able to produce microdevices with more complex geometry without the problem of misalignment between bonding layers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of PDMS passive micromixer by lost-wax casting

Chung

Chen

et al. 2015

Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf.

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“…Metallic moulds have advantages over conventional material moulds; as they can withstand the high temperatures with little expansion during thermal curing due to low thermal coefficients of expansion and can be re-used many times. 10 Demoulding of PDMS from metallic moulds has also been performed successfully without the need for surface coatings, further increasing the appeal of metallic moulds. 11–13…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid prototyping method for 3D PDMS microfluidic devices using a red femtosecond laser

Saadat

Taylor

Hughes

et al. 2020

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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A rapid prototyping technique is demonstrated which uses a red femtosecond laser to produce a metallic mould which is then directly used for the replica moulding of PDMS. The manufacturing process can be completed in less than 6 h making it a viable technique for testing new designs quickly. The technique is validated by creating a microfluidic device with channels of height and depth of 300 µm, with a ramp test structure where the height and width of the channels reduces to 100 µm to demonstrate the techniques 3D capabilities. The resulting PDMS device was easily removed from the metallic mould and closely replicated the shape aside the expected shrinkage during thermal curing. As the technique uses a single replica process, the surface roughness at the base of the channels corresponds to the un-ablated polished metal mould, resulting in a very low surface roughness of 0.361 nm. The ablated metallic mould surface corresponds to the top of the PDMS device, which is bonded to glass and does not affect the flow within the channels, reducing the need for optimisation of laser parameters. Finally, the device is validated by demonstrating laminar flow with the no-slip condition.

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