"Ultrasonic Bonding for thermoplastic microfluidics, nanofluidics and MEMS"

“用于热塑性微流体、纳米流体和 MEMS 的超声波焊接”

• 批准号: 423256-2012
• 负责人: Sameoto, Dan
• 金额: $ 3.62万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2011-01-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=495909
• 关键词: Ultrasonic; Bonding; thermoplastic; microfluidics; nanofluidics

This project will support the development and applications of low-cost thermoplastic microfluidic fabrication processes to accelerate research in areas ranging from fundamental polymer research, to genomics applications. Thermoplastics are one of the most widely used materials for microfluidic systems as they can be fabricated using a variety of techniques including hot-embossing, microinjection molding, and direct photolithography. For example, polymethymethacrylate (PMMA) is both the main component of commercial acrylics (Plexiglas®, OPTIX®) but is also one of the most widely used nanofabrication electron-beam resist materials, capable of defining the most finely structured materials of all traditional top-down nanotechnology processes. As such, PMMA and other thermoplastics are well suited for large-scale nano and microstructuring and one of the main applications for these polymers is the field of microfluidics. Microfluidics manipulates fluid flows on the micro and nanoscale, and can help a wide variety of chemical reactions and biological diagnostics by using smaller reagent amounts, and leveraging positive scaling laws, such as increased surface area to volume ratios, to speed up chemical reactions. Recent process developments by the primary investigator and others have demonstrated that relatively inexpensive commercial acrylics can be micro and nanostructured with deep ultraviolet light, and provides unique capabilities such as vertically tapered channels, tailored hydrophobicity/hydrophillicity across channels and altered molecular weight to reduce the glass transition temperature of the surface while keeping the bulk unaltered. All of these innovations can be put to use in making inexpensive microfluidics that are both cheaper to produce and more flexible in device sizes and capabilities than traditional glass based technologies. What is presently missing however is a fast, convenient, and reliable bonding method for these thermoplastic microfluidic devices that match our existing fabrication capabilities. An ultrasonic thermoplastic welding solution will massively increase our research output and reduce fabrication time so that more effort can be devoted to designing and testing microfluidic systems.

该项目将支持低成本热塑性微流体制造工艺的开发和应用，以加速从基础聚合物研究到基因组学应用等领域的研究。 热塑性塑料是微流体系统中使用最广泛的材料之一，因为它们可以使用多种技术制造，包括热压花、微注射成型和直接光刻。 例如，聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯 (PMMA) 既是商业丙烯酸树脂（Plexiglas®、OPTIX®）的主要成分，也是使用最广泛的纳米制造电子束抗蚀剂材料之一，能够定义所有传统自上而下纳米技术工艺中最精细结构的材料。 因此，PMMA 和其他热塑性塑料非常适合大规模纳米和微米结构，这些聚合物的主要应用之一是微流体领域。 微流体在微米和纳米尺度上操纵流体流动，通过使用更少量的试剂并利用正比例定律（例如增加表面积与体积之比）来加速化学反应，可以帮助各种化学反应和生物诊断。主要研究者和其他人最近的工艺开发表明，相对便宜的商业丙烯酸树脂可以用深紫外光进行微米和纳米结构，并提供独特的功能，例如垂直锥形通道、跨通道定制的疏水性/亲水性以及改变分子量以降低表面的玻璃化转变温度，同时保持体积不变。 所有这些创新都可以用于制造廉价的微流体，与传统的基于玻璃的技术相比，这些微流体的生产成本更低，并且设备尺寸和功能更灵活。 然而，目前缺少的是一种与我们现有的制造能力相匹配的用于这些热塑性微流体装置的快速、方便且可靠的粘合方法。 超声波热塑性焊接解决方案将大大增加我们的研究成果并减少制造时间，以便我们可以将更多精力投入到设计和测试微流体系统。