Microchannels made of fluoropolymers show potential merits due to their excellent solvent resistance, but such channels have not been widely used because of the complexity to fabricate them. This communication describes a method to prototype microfluidic devices using fluoropolymer films. The fabrication requires only two steps; cutting fluoropolymer films with a desktop cutting plotter and applying heat and pressure to laminate them. The method is rapid, simple, and low-cost. The conditions for heat press were identified for two common fluoropolymers: polytetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated ethylene propylene. The laminated films were confirmed to remain sealed with an internal pressure of at least 300 kPa. The fabricated devices were tested for the resistance to a set of organic solvents that would not be compatible with typical devices fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane. To highlight the potential of the fluoropolymer devices fabricated in this method, generation of droplets in a continuous stream of organic solvent using a T-junction channel was demonstrated. Our method offers a simple avenue to prototype microfluidic devices to conduct experiments involving organic solvents such as organic chemistry and in-channel synthesis of microparticles.
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November 2018
Research Article|
December 14 2018
Rapid prototyping of fluoropolymer microchannels by xurography for improved solvent resistance
Takuma Hizawa;
Takuma Hizawa
1
Pillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design
, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore
2
Department of Applied Mechanics, Waseda University
, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
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Atsushi Takano;
Atsushi Takano
3
Digital Manufacturing and Design (DManD) Center, Singapore University of Technology and Design
, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore
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Pravien Parthiban;
Pravien Parthiban
1
Pillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design
, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore
4
Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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Patrick S. Doyle;
Patrick S. Doyle
4
Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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Eiji Iwase
;
Eiji Iwase
2
Department of Applied Mechanics, Waseda University
, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
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Michinao Hashimoto
Michinao Hashimoto
a)
1
Pillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design
, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore
3
Digital Manufacturing and Design (DManD) Center, Singapore University of Technology and Design
, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Biomicrofluidics 12, 064105 (2018)
Article history
Received:
August 10 2018
Accepted:
November 29 2018
Citation
Takuma Hizawa, Atsushi Takano, Pravien Parthiban, Patrick S. Doyle, Eiji Iwase, Michinao Hashimoto; Rapid prototyping of fluoropolymer microchannels by xurography for improved solvent resistance. Biomicrofluidics 1 November 2018; 12 (6): 064105. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5051666
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