Fabrication of BA-doped ER-based microfluidics using CO 2 laser ablation: an impact of doping ER with boric acid

Abstract

This study investigated the thermal properties of epoxy resin by adding boric acid with different concentrations. The chemical structural and optical properties of the neat epoxy resin and the epoxy resin filled with different concentrations of boric acid were characterized by FTIR and spectrophotometer. TGA, DSC, and DTA investigate the thermal characteristics. Moreover, a specific migration test was accomplished to quantify potential migrants by GC–MS to prove that the prepared samples would not release unreacted monomers or boric acid to the biological solution test, which caused inhibition of or interfered with the sensitive biological reactions. By investigating the impact of this process on microchannels' dimensions and quality, a laser technique using CO2 laser was used for engraving into a transparent epoxy resin chip. The resulting microchannels were characterized using 3D laser microscopy. The outcomes of this study showed a reduction in the surface roughness and negligible bulge heights in the laser-ablated microchannels. This study validated the addition of boric acid to enhance the thermal properties of the cured epoxy resin, which led to better microchannel quality.