Proceedings of the
World Congress on Micro and Nano Manufacturing (WCMNM 2022 )
19–22 September 2022, Lueven, Belgium
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-5180-3_RP41-0060
Two Step Process Chain for Micromixer Tool Insert Production
1Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana,
2Chair of Microprocess Engineering and Technology - COMPETE, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT
A quick and low-cost process chain for bottom grooved micromixer is presented. The process chain consists of abrasive water jet and pure water jet cutting of two copper electrodes, die-sinking EDM with said electrodes to produce the steel tool insert and casting of PDMS onto the tool insert to produce the micromixer. The obtained characteristic dimensions on electrodes, tool inserts and PDMS products were measured and the mapping of dimensions from one process to the next one was examined. The results show that the precision obtained mainly depends on the precision of the first process, namely WJ and AWJ machining. The obtained micromixer channel width was 764 µm and average groove width was 413 µm with relatively high deviations of dimensions in a range of ±50 µsm.
Keywords: AWJ, EDM, Casting PDMS, Process Chain, Micromixer, Lab on a Chip.
1Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana,
2Chair of Microprocess Engineering and Technology - COMPETE, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ABSTRACT
A quick and low-cost process chain for bottom grooved micromixer is presented. The process chain consists of abrasive water jet and pure water jet cutting of two copper electrodes, die-sinking EDM with said electrodes to produce the steel tool insert and casting of PDMS onto the tool insert to produce the micromixer. The obtained characteristic dimensions on electrodes, tool inserts and PDMS products were measured and the mapping of dimensions from one process to the next one was examined. The results show that the precision obtained mainly depends on the precision of the first process, namely WJ and AWJ machining. The obtained micromixer channel width was 764 µm and average groove width was 413 µm with relatively high deviations of dimensions in a range of ±50 µsm.
Keywords: AWJ, EDM, Casting PDMS, Process Chain, Micromixer, Lab on a Chip.
