Microwave welding of polymeric-microfluidic devices

This paper describes a novel technique for bonding polymeric-microfluidic devices using microwave energy and a conductive polymer (polyaniline). The bonding is achieved by patterning the polyaniline features at the polymer joint interface by filling of milled microchannels. The absorbed electromagnetic energy is then converted into heat, facilitating the localized microwave bonding of two polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrates. A coaxial open-ended probe was used to study the dielectric properties at 2.45 GHz of the PMMA and polyaniline at a range of temperatures up to 120 °C. The measurements confirm a difference in the dielectric loss factor of the PMMA substrate and the polyaniline, which means that differential heating using microwaves is possible. Microfluidic channels of 200 µm and 400 µm widths were sealed using a microwave power of 300 W for 15 s. The results of the interface evaluations and leak test show that strong bonding is formed at the polymer interface, and there is no fluid leak up to a pressure of 1.18 MPa. Temperature field of microwave heating was found by using direct measurement techniques. A numerical simulation was also conducted by using the finite-element method, which confirmed and validated the experimental results. These results also indicate that no global deformation of the PMMA substrate occurred during the bonding process.