A 3D microfluidic device fabrication method using thermopress bonding with multiple layers of polystyrene film

Abstract

In this paper, we present a fabrication method that is capable of making three dimensional (3D) microfluidic devices with multiple layers of homogeneous polystyrene (PS) film. PS film was chosen as primary device material due to its advantageous features for microfluidics applications. Thermopress is used as bonding method because it provides sufficient bonding strength while requires no heterogeneous bonding materials. By aligning and sequentially stacking multiple layers (3 to 20) of patterned PS film which were achieved by a craft cutter, complicated 3D structured microfluidic devices can be fabricated by multiple steps of thermopress bonding. The smallest feature can be achieved in this method is around 100 μm, which is limited by the resolution of the cutter (25μm) as well as the thickness of the PS films.Bonding characteristics of PS films are given in this paper, including PS film bonding strength test, bonding precision assessment, and PS surface wettability manipulation. To demonstrate the capability of this method, the design, fabrication and testing results of a 3D interacting L-shaped passive mixer are presented in the paper.

Study on coalescence dynamics of unequal-sized microbubbles captive on solid substrate

“…The coalescence experiment was carried out through microbubbles generated inside a polymer microfluidic gas generation device. The device was fabricated by aligning and sequentially stacking/thermopress bonding multiple layers of patterned polystyrene (PS) film (Goodfellow, Coraopolis, PA) which were achieved by a craft cutter (FC2250-60 VC, Graphtec, Santa Ana, CA) [25]. A picture of the device and the schematic of a crosssection view of the device are shown in Fig.…”

Recent Advances in Thermoplastic Microfluidic Bonding

“…Because of the simple bonding mechanism and various advantages, it is the widely used method for sealing thermoplastic microfluidic chips. During the thermal bonding, the thermoplastic pairs are aligned between glass pairs, and bonded by applying pressure and heat with the help of hot embossing or hot press machine, as illustrated in Figure 2 A [ 30 ]. In addition to conventional hot press machines or bonders, various low-cost bonding facilities have also been utilized to achieve thermal fusion bonding.…”

“…Reprinted with permission from ref. [ 30 ]. Copyright 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd. ( B ) Image of a spring-driven press device for hot embossing and thermal bonding of PMMA microfluidic chips.…”

A new criterion of coalescence-induced microbubble detachment in three-dimensional microfluidic channel

“…The experiment to study microbubble transport was carried out inside a polymer microfluidic gas generation device, fabricated by aligning and sequentially stacking/thermophoresis bonding multiple layers of patterned polystyrene (PS) film, 53 as shown in Fig. 1(a).…”