Polymer Microchannel and Micromold Surface Polishing for Rapid, Low-Quantity Polydimethylsiloxane and Thermoplastic Microfluidic Device Fabrication.

ABSTRACT: Polymer-based micromolding has been proposed as an alternative to SU-8 micromolding for microfluidic chip fabrication. However, surface defects such as milling marks may result in rough microchannels and micromolds, limiting microfluidic device performance. Therefore, we use chemical and mechanical methods for polishing polymer microchannels and micromolds. In addition, we evaluated their performance in terms of removing the machining (milling) marks on polymer microchannel and micromold surfaces. For chemical polishing, we use solvent evaporation to polish the sample surfaces. For mechanical polishing, wool felt polishing bits with an abrasive agent were employed to polish the sample surfaces. Chemical polishing reduced surface roughness from 0.38 μm (0 min, after milling) to 0.13 μm afte

SUBMITTER: Tsao CW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7692984 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature