Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1348 |
| Journal | Micromachines |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 31 Oct 2021 |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2021 |
Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most commonly used thermoplastic materials worldwide and plays a ubiquitous role in today’s biomedical and life science industry and research. The main advantage of PS lies in its facile processability, its excellent optical and mechanical properties, as well as its biocompatibility. However, PS is only rarely used in microfluidic prototyping, since the structuring of PS is mainly performed using industrial-scale replication processes. So far, microfluidic chips in PS have not been accessible to rapid prototyping via 3D printing. In this work, we present, for the first time, 3D printing of transparent PS using fused deposition modeling (FDM). We present FDM printing of transparent PS microfluidic channels with dimensions as small as 300 µm and a high transparency in the region of interest. Furthermore, we demonstrate the fabrication of functional chips such as Tesla-mixer and mixer cascades. Cell culture experiments showed a high cell viability during seven days of culturing, as well as enabling cell adhesion and proliferation. With the aid of this new PS prototyping method, the development of future biomedical microfluidic chips will be significantly accelerated, as it enables using PS from the early academic prototyping all the way to industrial-scale mass replication.
Keywords
- 3D printing, additive manufacturing, fused deposition modeling, microfluidics, polystyrene, cell cultures, Fused deposition modeling, Additive manufacturing, Cell cultures, Polystyrene, Microfluidics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Engineering(all)
- Mechanical Engineering
- Engineering(all)
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Engineering(all)
- Control and Systems Engineering
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In: Micromachines, Vol. 12, No. 11, 1348, 11.2021.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Fused Deposition Modeling of Microfluidic Chips in Transparent Polystyrene
AU - Mader, Markus
AU - Rein, Christof
AU - Konrat, Eveline
AU - Meermeyer, Sophia Lena
AU - Lee-Thedieck, Cornelia
AU - Kotz-Helmer, Frederik
AU - Rapp, Bastian E.
N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was partly funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), funding code 03_5527 “Fluoropor”. This research was partly funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) for funding through the Centre for Excellence livMatS Exec 2193/1-390951807. This work was partly funded by the Research Cluster “Interactive and Programmable Materials (IPROM)” funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation. This work was partly financed by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung GmbH within the program “Biofunctional Materials and Surfaces” (BiofMo-2, 3D Mosaic). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 816006).
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most commonly used thermoplastic materials worldwide and plays a ubiquitous role in today’s biomedical and life science industry and research. The main advantage of PS lies in its facile processability, its excellent optical and mechanical properties, as well as its biocompatibility. However, PS is only rarely used in microfluidic prototyping, since the structuring of PS is mainly performed using industrial-scale replication processes. So far, microfluidic chips in PS have not been accessible to rapid prototyping via 3D printing. In this work, we present, for the first time, 3D printing of transparent PS using fused deposition modeling (FDM). We present FDM printing of transparent PS microfluidic channels with dimensions as small as 300 µm and a high transparency in the region of interest. Furthermore, we demonstrate the fabrication of functional chips such as Tesla-mixer and mixer cascades. Cell culture experiments showed a high cell viability during seven days of culturing, as well as enabling cell adhesion and proliferation. With the aid of this new PS prototyping method, the development of future biomedical microfluidic chips will be significantly accelerated, as it enables using PS from the early academic prototyping all the way to industrial-scale mass replication.
AB - Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most commonly used thermoplastic materials worldwide and plays a ubiquitous role in today’s biomedical and life science industry and research. The main advantage of PS lies in its facile processability, its excellent optical and mechanical properties, as well as its biocompatibility. However, PS is only rarely used in microfluidic prototyping, since the structuring of PS is mainly performed using industrial-scale replication processes. So far, microfluidic chips in PS have not been accessible to rapid prototyping via 3D printing. In this work, we present, for the first time, 3D printing of transparent PS using fused deposition modeling (FDM). We present FDM printing of transparent PS microfluidic channels with dimensions as small as 300 µm and a high transparency in the region of interest. Furthermore, we demonstrate the fabrication of functional chips such as Tesla-mixer and mixer cascades. Cell culture experiments showed a high cell viability during seven days of culturing, as well as enabling cell adhesion and proliferation. With the aid of this new PS prototyping method, the development of future biomedical microfluidic chips will be significantly accelerated, as it enables using PS from the early academic prototyping all the way to industrial-scale mass replication.
KW - 3D printing
KW - additive manufacturing
KW - fused deposition modeling
KW - microfluidics
KW - polystyrene
KW - cell cultures
KW - Fused deposition modeling
KW - Additive manufacturing
KW - Cell cultures
KW - Polystyrene
KW - Microfluidics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118493339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/mi12111348
DO - 10.3390/mi12111348
M3 - Article
VL - 12
JO - Micromachines
JF - Micromachines
SN - 2072-666X
IS - 11
M1 - 1348
ER -