Exploration of large scale manufacturing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic devices

Discussion of the current manufacturing process of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) parts and the emergence of PDMS use in biomedical microfluidic devices addresses the need to develop large scale manufacturing processes for the fabrication of said devices. Casting PDMS parts is found to be the best mass production process after evaluating several different production methods. Automation of the manufacturing process is introduced as a solution to the need for mass production. Changing variables within the production process and its effects are also discussed with the recommendation being made for using low viscosity pre-cured PDMS, high temperature curing and high vacuum degassing techniques to produce high quality parts at high production rates. The further development of producing two-sided PDMS parts is recommended by investigating the usage of a non-closed aspect limited casting process.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Hum, Philip W. (Philip Wing-Jung)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David E. Hardt.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36748

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36748