Surface roughness influences on the behaviour of flow inside microchannels

Abstract

This work discusses influence of the surface roughness on the behavior of liquids flowing inside microchannels. By measuring the flow profile using the micro-PIV technique, the flow of water inside two rectangular microchannels of different wall roughness and in a circular smooth microchannel was studied. Comparisons were made among the experimental results, showing that a metrological approach concerning surface characteristics of microdevices is required to ensure reliability of the measurements for flow analyses in microfluidic processes.