Abstract
Microfluidic structures and devices have been studied over decades for the transport of liquid through internal channels using versatile microfabrication schemes such as surface and bulk micromachining technologies. One challenge in consideration of the device design involves the breakthrough of microfluidic reservoir and channels being substantially limited in two-dimensional (2D) geometry. However, recent progress of the emerging 3D printing technologies has showed great potential to overcome this problem in a simple manner. This paper comprehensively reports an additive manufacturing of polylactic acid (PLA) layers to significantly improve the complexity in the formation of the 3D microfluidic structures as compared to conventional micro-manufacturing techniques. Moreover, a handheld mechatronic device with a small height of ~10 mm, assembled with a thin planar atomizer and a micro controller, was produced and demonstrated for generation of droplets (~6 μm in diameter). Both the analytical and experimental results indicated that the grids of channel microstructures were simply varied by different line widths (300–500 μm) and spacing (250–400 μm) 3D printed within the device, thereby providing the design capability for capillary flow. In this regard, a variety of complex micro devices fabricated via computer-aided design (CAD) and the 3D printing method could be applied for more applications than ever, such as microfluidic delivery of biomedical materials and health care devices of a small size.
Highlights
Microfluidic structures such as flow channels, cavities and holes at micrometer scale have been applied widely for delivery of liquid flow in a variety of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) over decades [1,2,3,4]
With various liquid or solid used as structural materials, 3D microstructures of the devices can be visualized through computer aided design (CAD) and are subsequently realized via computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
Further extended from the previous work [24], in this paper, we comprehensively report the capability of complex design of adaptive structures with a thin planar atomizer, by incorporating the microfluidics and 3D printing technique into mechatronics [29]
Summary
Microfluidic structures such as flow channels, cavities and holes at micrometer scale have been applied widely for delivery of liquid flow in a variety of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) over decades [1,2,3,4]. Those microstructures were mostly designed and fabricated by the present micromachining techniques including the silicon etching [1,4,5,6], surface micromachining [5,7], UV-LIGA (lithography, electroplating, and molding) process [2,3,8,9], etc. With various liquid or solid used as structural materials, 3D microstructures of the devices can be visualized through computer aided design (CAD) and are subsequently realized via computer aided manufacturing (CAM)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
