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Facile and cost-effective production of microscale PDMS architectures using a combined micromilling-replica moulding (uMi-REM) technique

Facile and cost-effective production of microscale PDMS architectures using a combined micromilling-replica moulding (uMi-REM) technique
Facile and cost-effective production of microscale PDMS architectures using a combined micromilling-replica moulding (uMi-REM) technique
We describe a cost-effective and simple method to fabricate PDMS-based microfluidic devices by combining micromilling with replica moulding technology. It relies on the following steps: (i) microchannels are milled in a block of acrylic; (ii) low-cost epoxy adhesive resin is poured over the milled acrylic block and allowed to cure; (iii) the solidified resin layer is peeled off the acrylic block and used as a mould for transferring the microchannel architecture onto a PDMS layer; finally (iv) the PDMS layer is plasma bonded to a glass surface. With this method, microscale architectures can be fabricated without the need for advanced technological equipment or laborious and time-consuming intermediate procedures. In this manuscript, we describe and validate the microfabrication procedure, and we illustrate its applicability to emulsion and microbubble production.
microfabrication, microfluidic, microchannel, micromilling pmma, replica moulding, pdms, emulsions, microbubbles
1387-2176
1-10
Carugo, Dario
0a4be6cd-e309-4ed8-a620-20256ce01179
Lee, Jeong Yu
25c5c704-f4ad-48ea-a984-088034dc3a93
Pora, Anne
c2e83837-0ab1-46f8-8337-64de3b60d0c0
Browning, Richard J.
32d183de-738d-49d7-8e74-af7b0a18e73f
Capretto, Lorenzo
0f3586b5-1560-49c1-a76b-59e74ea600ef
Nastruzzi, Claudio
fa760f44-1546-4aa2-838d-242a908ea463
Stride, Eleanor
c0143e95-81fa-47c8-b9bc-5b4fc319bba6
Carugo, Dario
0a4be6cd-e309-4ed8-a620-20256ce01179
Lee, Jeong Yu
25c5c704-f4ad-48ea-a984-088034dc3a93
Pora, Anne
c2e83837-0ab1-46f8-8337-64de3b60d0c0
Browning, Richard J.
32d183de-738d-49d7-8e74-af7b0a18e73f
Capretto, Lorenzo
0f3586b5-1560-49c1-a76b-59e74ea600ef
Nastruzzi, Claudio
fa760f44-1546-4aa2-838d-242a908ea463
Stride, Eleanor
c0143e95-81fa-47c8-b9bc-5b4fc319bba6

Carugo, Dario, Lee, Jeong Yu, Pora, Anne, Browning, Richard J., Capretto, Lorenzo, Nastruzzi, Claudio and Stride, Eleanor (2016) Facile and cost-effective production of microscale PDMS architectures using a combined micromilling-replica moulding (uMi-REM) technique. Biomedical Microdevices, 18 (4), 1-10. (doi:10.1007/s10544-015-0027-x). (PMID:26747434)

Record type: Article

Abstract

We describe a cost-effective and simple method to fabricate PDMS-based microfluidic devices by combining micromilling with replica moulding technology. It relies on the following steps: (i) microchannels are milled in a block of acrylic; (ii) low-cost epoxy adhesive resin is poured over the milled acrylic block and allowed to cure; (iii) the solidified resin layer is peeled off the acrylic block and used as a mould for transferring the microchannel architecture onto a PDMS layer; finally (iv) the PDMS layer is plasma bonded to a glass surface. With this method, microscale architectures can be fabricated without the need for advanced technological equipment or laborious and time-consuming intermediate procedures. In this manuscript, we describe and validate the microfabrication procedure, and we illustrate its applicability to emulsion and microbubble production.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 8 January 2016
Published date: February 2016
Keywords: microfabrication, microfluidic, microchannel, micromilling pmma, replica moulding, pdms, emulsions, microbubbles
Organisations: Bioengineering Group, Mechatronics, Engineering Science Unit, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 389369
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/389369
ISSN: 1387-2176
PURE UUID: 84c54eb6-83a2-4fb9-8faf-9a4b39f7a5c9

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Mar 2016 11:36
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 23:03

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Contributors

Author: Dario Carugo
Author: Jeong Yu Lee
Author: Anne Pora
Author: Richard J. Browning
Author: Lorenzo Capretto
Author: Claudio Nastruzzi
Author: Eleanor Stride

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