Title: An experimental study of micromilling of polymer materials for microfluidic applications

Authors: Ampara Aramcharoen; Shaw Kah-Chuan Sean; Liu Kui

Addresses: Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*Star, 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075, Singapore ' Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*Star, 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075, Singapore ' Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*Star, 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075, Singapore

Abstract: Micro mechanical milling is one of the processes that can be used in microfluidic devices fabrication. It has shown the capability for producing the free form geometries, cost and time effectively. This paper presents the cutting strategies for micro milling process of polycarbonate (PC) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) materials for an application of microfluidic chips. The proposed strategies demonstrated the capability of micro milling process to fabricate microfluidic chip with microchannel and micropillar array from biocompatible polymer materials with good machined surface quality and high aspect ratio of up to three.

Keywords: micromilling; micromachining; microfluidics; cutting strategies; microchannel arrays; micropillar arrays; biocompatible polymers; surface roughness; surface quality; microfluidic device fabrication; polycarbonate materials; polymethylmethacrylate; PMMA materials.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2012.052037

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2012 Vol.5 No.4, pp.286 - 298

Received: 12 Sep 2012
Accepted: 29 Oct 2012
Published online: 30 Jul 2014 *

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