Evaluating Laser-Based Microfabrication in Microfluidics: An Experimental and Computational Trial

Abstract

The aim of this research is to validate a new prototyping method for microfluidic devices which could compete with the widely used polydimethylsiloxane soft lithography. This alternative methodology uses laser-etched glass and pre-cured silicone as main materials. A dual approach is chosen for validation, testing prototypes of a mixing device well known in the scientific literature. Specifically the focus is to evaluate the mixing efficiency (ME) of two fluids flowing through the device. After fine-tuning the fabrication process, the ME is experimentally evaluated, and the results are compared with a 3D computational fluid dynamic analysis.