Roll-to-flat texturing system with infrared preheating for manufacturing a microfluidic device

In the present study, a roll-to-flat (R2F) texturing system with infrared preheating was developed and characterized for the purpose of massively producing thermoplastic microfluidic devices with the height of 100 μm-scale. A thermoplastic substrate preheated up to its glass transition temperature (Tg) by a halogen lamp was textured between a roll mold and a plane actuator. After texturing, the substrate could be immediately cooled down as the roll mold screened the substrate from the infrared heat source. In order to characterize the transcription performance of the developed R2F texturing system for 100 μm features, a parametric study was carried out based on the Taguchi method with four kinds of thermoplastic materials, cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), polycarbonate (PC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and polystyrene (PS), which are the most commonly used in manufacturing microfluidic devices. As an application example of the developed system, a microfluidic device having a serpentine microchannel was fabricated via R2F texturing and subsequent thermal bonding.

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► We developed and characterized a roll-to-flat texturing system with infrared preheating.
► Infrared preheating was introduced to rapidly heat up and cool down the thermoplastic substrate.
► Transcription performance for microchannel was investigated by means of a parametric study.
► A microfluidic device was fabricated via the R2F texturing followed by thermal bonding.