Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

Payton J. Goodrich; Farrokh Sharifi; Nastaran Hashemi

doi:10.1039/C5RA15154F

Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

Payton J. Goodrich,^a Farrokh Sharifi^a and Nastaran Hashemi*^a^b

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, USA
E-mail: nastaran@iastate.edu

^b Ames National Laboratory, Ames, USA

Abstract

Microfluidic technology has provided innovative solutions to numerous problems, but the cost of designing and fabricating microfluidic channels is impeding its expansion. In this work, Shrinky-Dink thermoplastic sheets are used to create multilayered complex templates for microfluidic channels. We used inkjet and laserjet printers to raise a predetermined microchannel geometry by depositing several layers of ink for each feature consecutively. We achieved feature heights over 100 μm, which were measured and compared with surface profilometry. Templates closest to the target geometry were then used to create microfluidic devices from soft-lithography with the molds as a template. These microfluidic devices were in turn used to fabricate polymer microfibers using the microfluidic focusing approach to demonstrate the potential that this process has for microfluidic applications. Finally, an economic analysis was conducted to compare the price of common microfluidic template manufacturing methods. We showed that multilayer microchannels can be created significantly quicker and cheaper than current methods for design prototyping and point-of-care applications in the biomedical area.

Supplementary files

Publication details

The article was received on 30 Jul 2015, accepted on 14 Aug 2015 and first published on 14 Aug 2015

Article type: Paper

DOI: 10.1039/C5RA15154F

Citation: RSC Adv., 2015,5, 71203-71209

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Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

P. J. Goodrich, F. Sharifi and N. Hashemi, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 71203
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA15154F
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Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

Abstract

Supplementary files

Publication details

Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

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