Development and implementation of a system testing device for microfluidic devices

• Main Author: Li, Chengguang
• Other Authors: Tor, Shu Beng
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/12882
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The microfluidic industry has seen tremendous growth over the last years and is expecting further growth in the future. Polymer is the material of choice at the moment for many applications and is being manufactured into microfluidic devices through injection molding. There is no established way of mass producing the mold inserts at the moment. Part of the research conducted at SMA is aimed to explore options in powder injection molding as a quick and reliable process to mass produce mold inserts. During the research phase one needs a way to assess the quality of the new inserts and its suitability to produce molds and microfluidic devices. This is currently achieved by manufacturing the final microfluidic parts using the molds and measuring the properties of these parts using conventional metrology methods at the laboratory. These include measurements carried out with the optical profilometer and the scanning electron microscope.