Micro-to-macro fluidic interconnectors with an integrated polymer sealant

Abstract

This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing results of inserting a polymer sealant (Mylar) into a micro-to-macro fluidic interconnection. Two processes, discrete and integrated Mylar sealant, have been developed by means of post-fabrication after the mircofluidic components such as micro-channels and micro-chambers are constructed. The integrated process utilizes microfabrication techniques such that batch processing is feasible and the sealant dimensions can be precisely controlled. The discrete process takes advantage of easy and simple processing and is compatible with most microfluidic systems without any extra wafer-level micromachining process. In both processes, macroscale capillary tubes with a diameter of 320 µm have been successfully connected to microscale channels with the help of the Mylar. Both leakage and pull-out tests are conducted and successfully demonstrate the functionality of the interconnectors. The leakage test shows that no leakage is observed up to 190 kPa and the pull-out test proves 100% survival rate under a pulling force of 2 N.

A Modular Heat-Shrink-Packaged Check Valve With High Pressure Shutoff

“…The maximum pressure for microfluidic interconnects using heat-shrink tubing also reported leak-free connections up to 200 kPa [13]. These results are comparable to devices which are secured using adhesives [21]- [23]. A summary of the results is presented in Table IV.…”

Thermally activated solvent bonding of polymers

“…Most of these tests involve generating an elevated internal gas pressure within the microchannels by connecting the inlet of the device to a compressed gas supply or gas pump, while plugging all other outlets. In the bubble emission test (Tsai and Lin 2001), the device is immersed in water and the gas pressure increased until a bubble is seen, indicating a leak has occurred. Another test involved pressuring the microchannel with a liquid or gas and monitoring the pressure decay with time (Gray et al 1999).…”

A highly reliable integrated PDMS interconnector with a long cast flange for microfluidic systems

“…Creating reliable interconnectors linking microfluidic systems to the macro world has been a great challenge in this field due to the differences both in scale and fabrication technologies (Whitesides 2006;Thorsen et al 2002;Fredrickson and Fan 2004). Therefore a wide variety of interconnection methods have been proposed (Meng et al 2001;Tsai and Lin 2001;Korivi and Jiang 2007;Gray et al 2004;Nittis et al 2001;Pattekar and Kothare 2003;Dalton and Karan 2007;Perozziello et al 2008).…”