Abstract
Microfluidic chips have been widely applied in biochemical analysis, DNA sequencing, and disease diagnosis due to their advantages of miniaturization, low consumption, rapid analysis, and automation. Injection molded microfluidic chips have attracted great attention because of their short processing time, low cost, and mass production. The microchannel is the critical element of a microfluidic chip, and thus the microchannel replicability directly affects the performance of the microfluidic chip. In the current paper, a new method is proposed to evaluate the replicability of the microchannel profile via the root mean square value of the actual profile curve and the ideal profile curve of the microchannel. To investigate the effects of injection molding parameters (i.e., mold temperature, melting temperature, holding pressure, holding time, and injection rate) on microchannel replicability, a series of single-factor experiments were carried out. The results showed that, within the investigated experimental range, the increase of mold temperature, melt temperature, holding pressure, holding time, and injection rate could improve microchannel replicability accuracy. Specifically, the microchannels along the flow direction of the polymer melt were significantly affected by the mold temperature and melt temperature. Moreover, the replicability of the microchannel was influenced by the distance from the injection gate. The effect of microchannel replication on electrophoresis was demonstrated by a protein electrophoresis experiment.
Highlights
The microfluidic chip is a technology platform that integrates sample preparation, reaction, separation, detection, and other processes by controlling fluid flow in microchannels [1,2,3]
Loke et al [21] found that injection molding technology can provide a high replicability accuracy in the overall structure of the microfluidic chip, but that there are some defects in the microchannel, such as incomplete filling
To give an accurate description of microchannel replicability, a new method was proposed in which the root mean square (RMS) value of the actual profile of the microchannel was employed
Summary
The microfluidic chip is a technology platform that integrates sample preparation, reaction, separation, detection, and other processes by controlling fluid flow in microchannels [1,2,3]. Since the first demonstration in 1990 [4,5], microfluidic chip electrophoresis (MCE) has developed rapidly with important applications in many areas, such as life sciences, biology, medicine, food, and environmental monitoring [6,7,8,9,10] This method for protein analysis is automated, which allows for rapid separation, and high sensitivities and efficiencies [11,12,13,14,15]. Loke et al [21] found that injection molding technology can provide a high replicability accuracy in the overall structure of the microfluidic chip, but that there are some defects in the microchannel, such as incomplete filling. An experimental validation using protein electrophoresis was carried out
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