Design of the Vitreous Bio-Micro-Channel Fabricating Device in Microfluidic System

Abstract

In order to improve the structure, section shape and inner flow performance of micro-channel in Micro-fluidic system, a novel fabricating process of bio-micro-channel (BMC) is proposed based on the softening and forming property of glass material. By the manipulation of heating, pulling and blowing, a bio-micro-channel is made from glass capillary with specific functional units. A vitreous bio-micro-channel fabricating device (VBMCFD) is presented with working models of uniaxial and biaxial tension. Using common borosilicate glass capillary as experimental material, the affecting parameters of micro channel inner diameter, outer diameter, thickness and functional unit key parameter are tested, such as heating voltage, heating time, pulling velocity, pulling displacement and inner pressure. The bio-micro-channel is fabricated with micron scale inner diameter, about 5μm, and spherical functional unit. The experimental results show that the prototype of VBMCFD is characterized by reliable process, simple structure, low cost, etc. The vitreous bio-micro-channel is fabricated with circular-cross-section straight channels and uniform functional units, which are the key characters of biologic micro-channel.