Low Distortion Solvent Bonding of Microfluidic Chips

Solvent bonding represents a joining method for thermoplastic materials that results in high bond strength, with short process times. However, there is a challenge in bonding micro-channeled substrates for microfluidic devices due to excessive channel clogging and distortion. In this work, a simple design method to fuse poly(methyl methacrylate) microfluidic chips with solvents without micro- channel clogging is demonstrated. The joining process is improvised improved by subjecting the chip to a vacuum during the bonding process, whereby the undesired excess solvent between the microfluidic chip and cover can be removed. The microfluidic devices that were bonded using this method exceeded the application requirements, in particular transparency and internal back pressure requirements. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.