Microfluidics Fabrication¶
Microfluidics fabrication was conducted mainly using the CO2 laser cutter machine and the CNC milling machine.
CO2 Laser Cutter Fabrication¶
The CO2 laser cutter machine was the first machine to be examined for microfluidics fabrication. This machine is connected to a computer that has the RDWorks software which is the software that allows the user to perform laser cutting operations. This software only accepts 2D files (i.e. DXF files) as the depth is determined based on the specified parameters. Firstly, different settings (i.e. power, speed and focal length) were investigated for the PMMA material to achieve the optimal settings for the specified material. This investigation led to different depths at each set of settings and various patterns with regards to the microchannels.
More details about CO2 laser cutter fabrication can be found in Zahra’s page here.
CNC Milling Machine Fabrication¶
The second machine to be analyzed for microfluidics fabrication is the CNC milling machine. The CNC milling machine is connected to a laptop that has SRP Player software installed on it. SRP Player software is the software utilized to command the CNC milling machine through Computer Numerical Control of the drill bit. The SRP Player only accepts 3D files (i.e. STL files). Therefore, Fusion 360 was utilized to overcome this by converting the DXF file obtained from Inkscape into an STL file. This was done through defining the anticipated depth of the microchannels. The drill bit choice mainly depends on the width of the microchannels as the diameter of the drill bit needs to be less than or equal to the width of the microchannels. As a result, when the specified microchannel width was 1 mm, the drill bit was chosen to be 1 mm. If a 1 mm drill bit is not available, a smaller drill bit would have been chosen.
More details about CNC milling machine fabrication can be found in Zahra’s page here.
Image J¶
After the successful fabrication of the microfluidics chip, Image J software was utilized to inspect the geometry of the microfluidics chip. Image J is a Java-based image processing program which allows the user to measure image dimensions through establishing a relationship between pixels and the measurement unit. This was done by using an object with a known length, which was a Lego piece, as a reference for the pixel conversion. The pictures of the microfluidics chips were taken via a digital microscope.
More details about CNC milling machine fabrication can be found in Batool’s page here.