Abstract
Microfluidic devices have several applications in different fields, such as chemistry, medicine and biotechnology. Many research activities are currently investigating the manufacturing of integrated microfluidic devices on a mass-production scale with relatively low costs. This is especially important for applications where disposable devices are used for medical analysis. Micromoulding of thermoplastic polymers is a developing process with great potential for producing low-cost microfluidic devices. Among different micromoulding techniques, micro-injection moulding is one of the most promising processes suitable for manufacturing polymeric disposable microfluidic devices. This review paper aims at presenting the main significant developments that have been achieved in different aspects of micro-injection moulding of microfluidic devices. Aspects covered include device design, machine capabilities, mould manufacturing, material selection and process parameters. Problems, challenges and potential areas for research are highlighted.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott Laboratories (2009) i-STAT. Available at http://www.abbottpointofcare.com/istat. Accessed 2009
Angelov A, Coulter J (2004) Micromolding product manufacture—a progress report. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2004), Chicago, IL, 16–20 May 2004
Angelov A, Coulter J (2007) A feasibility study for sub-100 nm polymer injection molding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May 2007
Angelov A, Coulter J (2008) The development and characterization of polymer microinjection molded gratings. Polym Eng Sci 48(11):2169–2177
Aufiero R (2005) The effect of process conditions on part quality in microinjection molding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), Boston, MA, 1–5 May 2005
Bartels Mikrotechnik GmbH (2009) Available at http://www.bartels-mikrotechnik.de. Accessed 2009
Becker H (2008) Microfluidics: a technology coming of age. Med Device Technol 19:21–24
Becker H, Gärtner C (2000) Polymer microfabrication methods for microfluidic analytical applications. Electrophoresis 21(1):12–26
Becker H, Heim U (1999) Hot embossing as a method for the fabrication of polymer high aspect ratio structures. Sens Actuators A Phys 83(1):130–135
Becker H, Locascio L (2002) Polymer microfluidic devices. Talanta 56(2):267–287
Bibber D (2004) Micro molding challenges. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2004), Chicago, IL, 16–20 May 2004
Bibber D (2005) Advanced micromolding applications. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), Boston, MA, 1–5 May 2005
Bissacco G, Hansen H, Tang T, Fugl J (2005) Precision manufacturing methods of inserts for injection molding of microfluidic systems. ASPE spring topical meeting on precision micro/nano scale polymer based component and device fabrication, April 2005
Blattert C, Jurischka R, Schoth A, Kerth P Menz W (2004) Fabrication and testing of novel blood separation devices based on microchannel bend structures. Progress in biomedical optics and imaging. In: Proceedings of SPIE, Sydney, NSW, 13–15 December 2004
Boone T, HughFan Z, Hooper H, Ricco A, Tan H, Williams S (2002) Plastic advances microfluidic devices. Anal Chem 74(3)
Bourdon R (2003) Short cycles for injection moulded microfluidics parts. Kunsts Plast Eur 93(9): 9, 11+33
Bourdon R, Schneider W (2002) A systematic approach to microinjection moulding. Business briefing: medical device manufacturing and technology 1–3
Catanzaro J, Kadykowski B (2002) Micro molding—“a new way”. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2002), 3:2627–2633
Chang P, Hwang S, Lee H, Huang D (2007) Development of an external-type microinjection molding module for thermoplastic polymer. J Mater Process Technol 4/12; 184(1–3):163–172
Chen S, Chang J, Chang Y, Chau S (2005) Micro injection molding of micro fluidic platform. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), 1–5 May 2005
Clay J, Heggs R (2002) Material challenges in medical micromolding applications. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2002), 5–9 May 2002
De Mello A (2002) Plastic fantastic? Lab Chip Miniatuarisation Chem Biol 2(2):31N–36N
Derdouri A, Ilinca F, Hétu J (2005) Microinjection molding of microstructures—experimental and numerical simulation. In: AIChE annual meeting, conference proceedings, Cincinnati, OH, 30 October–4 November 2005
Despa M, Kelly K, Collier J (1998) Injection molding using high aspect ratio microstructures mold inserts produced by LIGA technique. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, Santa Clara, CA, USA, 21–22 September 1998
Erickson D, Li D (2004) Integrated microfluidic devices. Anal Chim Acta 507(1):11–26
Fassett J (1995) Thin wall molding: differences in processing over standard injection molding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 1995), Boston, MA, USA, 7 May–11 October 1995
Fiorini GS, Chiu DT (2005) Disposable microfluidic devices: fabrication, function, and application. Biotechniques 38:429–446
Gadegaard N, Mosler S, Larsen NB (2003) Biomimetic polymer nanostructures by injection molding. Macromol Mater Eng 288(1):76–83
Gerlach A, Knebel G, Guber AE, Heckele M, Herrmann D, Muslija A et al (2002) Microfabrication of single-use plastic microfluidic devices for high-throughput screening and DNA analysis. Microsyst Technol 7(5–6):265–268
Giboz J, Copponnex T, Mélé P (2007) Microinjection molding of thermoplastic polymers: a review. J Micromech Microeng 17(6):R96–R109
Gottschlich N (2004) Production of plastic components for microfluidic applications. Business briefing: future drug discovery, 2004. http://www.touchbriefings.com/pdf/855/fdd041_greiner_tech.pdf. Accessed 2007
Grande JA (2006) Micro-thermoforming makes its debut. Plast Technol 52(11):37–41
Greener J, Wimberger-Friedl R (2006) Precision injection molding: process, materials, and applications. Hanser Gardner Publications, Cincinnati
Greenway G, Allan P, Bevis M, Hornsby P (2001) The mechanical testing of micro injection mouldings. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2001), 5–9 May 2001
Greenway G, Allan P, Hornsby P (2003) The characterisation and physical testing of micro-mouldings. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2003), Nashville, TN, 4–8 May 2003
Griffiths C, Dimov S, Brousseau E, Hoyle R (2007) The effects of tool surface quality in micro-injection moulding. J Mater Process Technol 189(1–3):418–427
Griffiths C, Dimov S, Brousseau E, Chouquet C, Gavillet J, Bigot S (2008) Micro-injection moulding: surface treatment effects on part demoulding. In: 4M2008 proceedings. Whittles Publishing, UK, 9–11 September
Hanemann T, Pfleging W, Haußelt J, Zum K (2002) Laser micromaching and light induced reaction injection molding as suitable process sequence for the rapid fabrication of microcomponents. Microsyst Technol 7(5):209–214
Heckele M, Schomburg W (2004) Review on micro molding of thermoplastic polymers. J Micromech Microeng 14(3)
Heckele M, Guber A, Truckenmüller R (2006) Replication and bonding techniques for integrated microfluidic systems. Microsyst Technol 12(10–11):1031–1035
Hill S, Kämper K, Dasbach U, Döpper J, Ehrfeld W, Kaupert M (1995) An investigation of computer modelling for micro-injection moulding. In: Proceedings of microsym’95, September 1995
Hörr M (1997) Grundlagenuntersuchungen durch Strukturdefinition beim Mikrospritzgießen im Rahmen des LIGA-Prozesses. Fachhochschule Darmstadt, Darmstadt
Ilinca F, Hétu J-F, Derdouri A (2004) Numerical simulation of the filling stage in the micro-injection molding process. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2004), Chicago, IL, 16–20 May 2004
Jung J, Choi G, Kim D (2004) Experimental study on spray etching process in micro fabrication of lead frame. KSME Int J 18(12):2294–2302
Kalima V, Pietarinen J, Siitonen S, Immonen J, Suvanto M, Kuittinen M et al (2007) Transparent thermoplastics: replication of diffractive optical elements using micro-injection molding. Opt Mater 30(2):285–291
Kelly A, Woodhead M, Coates P (2005) Comparison of injection molding machine performance. Polym Eng Sci 45(6):857–865
Kemmann O, Schaumburg C, Weber L (1999) Micro moulding behaviour of engineering plastics. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, Bellingham, WA, USA, pp 464–471, 30 March–1 April 1999
Kemmann O, Weber L, Jeggy C, Magotte O (2000) Simulation of the micro injection molding process. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2000), pp 576–580
Kim S, Trichur R, Beaucage G, Ahn C, Kim B (2002) New plastic microinjection molding technique for extremely tall plastic structures using remote infrared radiation heating method. In: Proceedings of the 10th solid-state sensor, actuator and microsystems workshop, 2–6 June, 2002
Kim D, Lee S, Ahn C, Lee J, Kwon T (2006) Disposable integrated microfluidic biochip for blood typing by plastic microinjection moulding. Lab Chip Miniaturisation Chem Biol 6(6):794–802
Kirkland C (2003) A first in micromold flow analysis. Injection Molding Mag
Kistler Instrument Corporation (2007) http://www.kistler.com. Accessed 27 Feb 2007
Klepárník K, Horký M (2003) Detection of DNA fragmentation in a single apoptotic cardiomyocyte by electrophoresis on a microfluidic device. Electrophoresis 24(2):3778–3783
Kukla C, Loibl H, Detter H, Hannenheim W (1998) Micro-injection moulding—the aims of a project partnership. Kunsts Plast Eur 88(9):6–7
Lee B, Hwang C, Kim D, Kwon T (2008a) Replication quality of flow-through microfilters in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip for blood typing by microinjection molding. J Manuf Sci Eng Trans ASME 130(2):0210101–0210108
Lee S, Kim S, Kang J, Ahn C (2008b) A polymer lab-on-a-chip for reverse transcription (RT)-PCR based point-of-care clinical diagnostics. Lab Chip Miniaturisation Chem Biol 8(12):2121–2127
Liou A, Chen R (2006) Injection molding of polymer micro- and sub-micron structures with high-aspect ratios. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 28(11–12):1097–1103
Little G, Tuttle R, Clark D, Corney J (1998) A feature complexity index. Proc Inst Mech Eng C J Mech Eng Sci 212(5):405–412
Liu M-K, Huang K-S, Chang J-Y, Wu C-H, Lin Y-C (2007) Using a CD-like microfluidic platform for uniform calcium alginate drug carrier generation. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, San Jose, CA, 22–24 January 2007
Macintyre D, Thoms S (1998) The fabrication of high resolution features by mould injection. Microelectron Eng 41–42:211–214
Madou M, Lee L, Koelling K, Lai S, Koh C, Juang Y, et al (2001) Design and fabrication of polymer microfluidic platforms for biomedical applications. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2001), vol 3, pp 2534–2538
Mair D, Geiger E, Pisano A, Fréchet J, Svec F (2006) Injection molded microfluidic chips featuring integrated interconnects. Lab Chip Miniaturisation Chem Biol 6(10):1346–1354
Majmundar R, Asthana A, Ghumman B, Barry C (2005) Comparison of predicted and experimental filling of micromolded parts. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), Boston, MA, pp 1–5 May 2005
Martyn M, Whiteside B, Coates P, Allan P, Hornsby P (2001) Studies of the process–property interaction of the micromoulding process. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2001), Brookfield Center, CT, USA, 5–9 May 2001
Martyn M, Whiteside B, Coates P, Allan P, Greenway G, Hornsby P (2003) Micromoulding: consideration of processing effects on medical materials. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2003), Nashville, TN, 4–8 May 2003
Martyn M, Whiteside B, Coates, P, Allan P, Greenway G, Hornsby P (2004) Aspects of micromoulding polymers for medical applications. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2004), Chicago, IL, 16–20 May 2004
Mazzeo A, Dirckx M, Hardt D (2007) Process selection for microfluidic device manufacturing. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May 2007
Mehta N, Barry C, Bibber D, Tully D (2003) Validation of flow simulation for micromolded parts. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2003), 4–8 May 2003, Nashville, TN
Micralyne Inc (2009) Available at http://www.micralyne.com. Accessed 2009
Microfluidic ChipShop GmbH (2009) Lab-on-a-Chip Catalogue 01/2009. Available at http://www.microfluidic-chipshop.com. Accessed 2009
Michaeli W, Gärtner R (2006) New demolding concepts for the injection molding of microstructures. J Polym Eng 26(2–4):161–177
Michaeli W, Opfermann D (2005) Bonding strength in micro injection assembly moulding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), 1–5 May 2005, Boston, MA
Michaeli W, Opfermann D (2006a) Micro assembly injection moulding. Microsyst Technol 12(7):616–619
Michaeli W, Opfermann D (2006) Increasing the feasible bonding strength in micro assembly injection molding using surface modifications. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2006), 7–11 May 2006, Charlotte, NC
Michaeli W, Spennemann A (2001) A new injection molding technology for micro parts. J Polym Eng 21(2–3):87–98
Michaeli W, Ziegmann C (2003) Micro assembly injection moulding for the generation of hybrid microstructures. Microsyst Technol 9(6–7):427–430
Michaeli W, Rogalla A, Ziegmann C (2000) Processing technologies for the injection moulding of hybrid microstructures. Macromol Mater Eng 279:42–45
Michaeli W, Spennemann A, Gärtner R (2002) New plastification concepts for micro injection moulding. Microsyst Technol 8(1):55–57
Miller T, Fontaine J (1999) Performance and materials for high performing injection molded optical elements. In: Proceedings of the conference on plastic portable wireless electron 1999, Brookfield, CT, USA, 25–26 January 1999, pp 37–42
Mönkkönen K, Hietala J, Pääkkönen P, Pääkkönen E, Kaikuranta T, Pakkanen T et al (2002) Replication of sub-micron features using amorphous thermoplastics. Polym Eng Sci 42(7):1600–1608
Morales A, Simmons B, Wallow T, Campbell K, Mani S, Mittal B, et al (2006) Injection molded microfluidic devices for biological sample separation and detection. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, San Jose, CA, 25–25 January 2006
Murakami O, Yamada K, Kotaki M (2007) Replication and optical properties of injection moldings with microstructures. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May
Niggemann M, Ehrfeld W, Weber L (1998) Fabrication of miniaturized biotechnical devices. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, Santa Clara, CA, 21–22 September 1998
Noerholm M, Bruus H, Jakobsen MH, Telleman P, Ramsing NB (2004) Polymer microfluidic chip for online monitoring of microarray hybridizations. Lab Chip Miniaturisation Chem Biol 4(1):28–37
Norajitra P, Muller K, Ruprecht R, Haußelt J (1996) Computersimulation zur Verbesserung der Wirtschaftlichkeit beim Spritzgießen von Kunststoffmikrostrukturen. In: Proceedings of Werkstoffwoche 1996, Symposium 8, DGM-Informationsgesellschaft Verlag
Ong N, Zhang H, Woo W (2006) Plastic injection molding of high-aspect ratio micro-rods. Mater Manuf Process 21(8):824–831
Ono Y, Cheng C, Jen C, Tatibouët J, Hétu J (2005) Ultrasonic technique and probes for monitoring surface imperfection of microfluidic plastic devices during injection molding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), Boston, MA, 1–5 May 2005
Piotter V, Hanemann T, Ruprecht R, Haußelt J (2002a) Microinjection moulding of medical device components. Business briefing: medical device manufacturing and technology 2002, pp 63–66
Piotter V, Mueller K, Plewa K, Ruprecht R, Haußelt J (2002b) Performance and simulation of thermoplastic micro injection molding. Microsyst Technol 8(6):387–390
Piotter V, Guber AE, Heckele M, Gerlach A (2004) Micro moulding of medical device components. Business briefing: medical device manufacturing and technology, 2004, http://www.touchbriefings.com/pdf/954/piotter.pdf. Accessed Feb 2007
Piotter V, Finnah G, Oerlygsson G, Ruprecht R, Haußelt J (2005) Special variants and simulation of micro injection moulding. Injection moulding 2005. Collected papers of the 5th international conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1–2 March 2005
Pirskanen J, Immonen J, Kalima V, Pietarinen J, Siitonen S, Kuittinen M et al (2005) Replication of sub-micrometre features using microsystems technology. Plast Rubber Compos 34(5–6):222–226
Pranov H, Rasmussen H, Larsen N, Gadegaard N (2006) On the injection molding of nanostructured polymer surfaces. Polym Eng Sci 46(2):160–171
Raviwongse R, Allada V (1997) Artificial neural network based model for computation of injection mould complexity. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 13(8):577–586
Reyes D, Iossifidis D, Auroux P, Manz A (2002) Micro total analysis systems. 1 Introduction, theory, and technology. Anal Chem 74(1):2623–2636
Rosen D, Dixon J, Poli C, Dong X (1992) Features and algorithms for tooling cost evaluation in injection molding and die casting. In: Proceedings of the ASME international computers in engineering conference and exposition, New York, NY, USA, 2–6 August 1992. ASME, New York
Rötting O, Röpke W, Becker H, Gärtner C (2002) Polymer microfabrication technologies. Microsyst Technol 8(1):32–36
Ruprecht R, Bacher W, Haußelt J, Piotter V (1995) Injection molding of liga and liga-similar microstructures using filled and unfilled thermoplastics. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, Austin, TX, 23–24 October 1995
Ruprecht R, Hanemann T, Piotter V, Haußelt J (1998) Polymer materials for microsystem technologies. Microsyst Technol 5(1):44–48
Sammoura F, Kang J, Heo Y, Jung T, Lin L (2007) Polymeric microneedle fabrication using a microinjection molding technique. Microsyst Technol 13(5–6):517–522
Schneider C, Maier G (2001) Small, but potent: special plastics for injection moulding microparts. Kunsts Plast Eur 91(3):27–28
Sha B, Dimov S, Griffiths C, Packianather M (2006) Micro-injection moulding: factors affecting the achievable aspect ratios. Int J Adv Manuf Technol
Sha B, Dimov S, Griffiths C, Packianather M (2007a) Investigation of micro-injection moulding: factors affecting the replication quality. J Mater Process Technol 183(2–3):284–296
Sha B, Dimov S, Griffiths C, Packianather M (2007b) Micro-injection moulding: factors affecting the achievable aspect ratios. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 33(1–2):147–156
Shen YK, Wu WY (2002) An analysis of the three-dimensional micro-injection molding. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 29(3):423–431
Shen Y, Yeh S, Chen S (2002) Three-dimensional non-Newtonian computations of micro-injection molding with the finite element method. Int Commun Heat Mass Transf 29(5):643–652
Shen Y, Chien H, Lin Y (2004) Optimization of the micro-injection molding process using grey relational analysis and moldflow analysis. J Reinf Plast Compos 23(17):1799–1814
Shepard T, Dunn D (1995) Micro-injection molding of medical products: machine specification and process simulation. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 1995)
SMS Group (2006) Battenfeld Service Manual, Version MB4GBV20 10 March 2006
Song S, Lee KY (2006) Polymers for microfluidic chips. Macromol Res 14(2):121–128
Soper SA, Ford S, Qi S, McCarley R, Kelly K, Murphy M (2000) Polymeric microelectromechanical systems. Anal Chem 72(19)
Soper S, Henry A, Vaidya B, Galloway M, Wabuyele M, McCarley R (2002) Surface modification of polymer-based microfluidic devices. Anal Chim Acta 470(1):87–99. 10/11
Spennemann A, Michaeli W (1999) Process analysis and machine technology for the injection molding of microstructures. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 1999), 2–6 May
Stange T (2002) Development and production of microfluidic chips made of polymers. Am Biotechnol Lab 20(8):8–10
Stewart R (2006) Nanomaterials: still climbing the steep curve of material development. Plastics Eng 12–20
Strassner J (2004) Precision as a competitive edge. Demagpress, 3–4
Sung W, Lee G, Tzeng C, Chen S (2001) Plastic microchip electrophoresis for genetic screening: the analysis of polymerase chain reactions products of fragile X (CGG)n alleles. Electrophoresis 22:1188–1193
Tahhan I, Blattert C, Jurischka R, Schoth A, Kerth P, Reinecke H (2005) Improved and simple sealing of microfluidic structures. In: 2005 3rd IEEE/EMBS special topic conference on microtechnology in medicine and biology, 12–15 May 2005
ThinXXS Microtechnology AG (2009) Available at http://www.thinxxs.com. Accessed 2009
Tipler P, Manser P (2001) Developments in micromoulding. In: Proceedings of polymer processing engineering 01, Bradford, UK, June 2001
Tolinski M (2005) Macro challenges in micromolding. Plast Eng 61(9):14–16
Tom A, Layser G, Coulter J (2006) Mechanical property determination of micro injection molded tensile test specimens. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2006), Charlotte, NC, 7–11 May 2006
Tosello G, Fillon B, Azcarate S, Schoth A, Mattsson L, Griffiths C, Staemmler L, Bolt P (2007) Hybrid tooling technologies and standardization for the manufacturing of inserts for micro injection molding. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May 2007
Tosello G, Gava A, Hansen H, Lucchetta G (2007) Influence of process parameters on the weld lines of a micro injection molded component. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May 2007
Wang Y-D, Chang P-Q, Wu Y-F, Hwang S-J, Hwang, D-Y, Cheng R-W (2005) Design and fabrication of an all-electric tiebarless injection molding machine. In: 2005 IEEE international conference on mechatronics, ICM ’05, 10–12 July 2005
Weber L, Ehrfeld W (1998) Molding of microstructures for high-tech applications. In: Proceedings of the 56th annual technical conference (ANTEC 1998). Part 3 (of 3), Atlanta, GA, USA, 26–30 April 1998
Weber L, Ehrfeld W (1998) Micro-moulding—processes, moulds, applications. Kunsts Plast Eur 1998, 88, pp 60–63, 10 Munich, Germany
Weber L, Ehrfeld W (1999) Micromoulding: market position and development potential. Kunststoffe 89(10):192–202
Weber L, Ehrfeld W, Freimuth H, Lacher M, Lehr H, Pech B (1996) Micromolding: a powerful tool for large-scale production of precise microstructures. In: Proceedings of SPIE—the international society for optical engineering, Austin, TX, USA, 14–15 October 1996
Whiteside B, Martyn M, Coates P, Allan P, Hornsby P, Greenway G (2003) Micromoulding: process characteristics and product properties. Plast Rubber Compos 32(6):231–239
Whiteside B, Martyn M, Coates P (2004) Micromoulding: process evaluation. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2004) Chicago, IL, 16–20 May 2004
Whiteside B, Martyn M, Coates P, Greenway G, Allen P, Hornsby P (2004b) Micromoulding: process measurements, product morphology and properties. Plast Rubber Compos 33(1):11–17
Whiteside B, Brown E, Ono Y, Jen C, Coates P (2005) Polymer degradation and filling incompletion monitoring for micromolding using ultrasound. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005) Boston, MA, 1–5 May 2005
Whitesides G (2006) The origins and the future of microfluidics. Nature 442(7101):368–373
Wimberger-Friedl R (2000) Injection molding of sub-μm grating optical elements. J Inject Molding Technol 4(2):78–83
Wimberger-Friedl R, Balemans W, Van Iersel B (2003) Molding of microstructures and high aspect ratio features. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2003), Nashville, TN, 4–8 May 2003
Xu G, Kim D, Koelling K, Lee L (2005) Flow dynamics in injection molding with microfeatures. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2005), Boston, MA, 1–5 May 2005
Yao D, Kim B (2002a) Injection molding high aspect ratio microfeatures. J Inject Molding Technol 6(1):11–17
Yao D, Kim B (2002b) Simulation of the filling process in micro channels for polymeric materials. J Micromech Microeng 12(5):604–610
Yoon S-H, Alabran M, Lee J, Mead J, Barry C, Carter D (2007) Micro-injection molding of high aspect ratio features with thermoplastic polyurethanes. In: Proceedings of the annual technical conference (ANTEC 2007), 6–11 May 2007
Young W (2005) Simulation of the filling process in molding components with micro channels. Microsyst Technol 11(6):410–415
Yu L, Koh C, Lee L, Koelling K, Madou M (2002) Experimental investigation and numerical simulation of injection molding with micro-features. Polym Eng Sci 42(5):871–888
Yu L, Lee L, Koelling K (2004) Flow and heat transfer simulation of injection molding with microstructures. Polym Eng Sci 44(10):1866–1876
Yussuf A, Sbarski I, Hayes J, Solomon M (2007) Sealing and bonding techniques for polymer-based microfluidic devices. Swinburne University of Technology, http://www.swin.edu.au/iris/pdf/profiles/AbdirahmanYussuf.pdf. Accessed March 2007
Zhang K, Lu Z (2008) Analysis of morphology and performance of PP microstructures manufactured by micro injection molding. Microsyst Technol 14(2):209–214
Zhang C, Xu J, Ma W, Zheng W (2006) PCR microfluidic devices for DNA amplification. Biotechnol Adv 24:243–284
Zhao J, Mayes R, Chen G, Chan PS, Xiong ZJ (2003a) Polymer micromould design and micromoulding process. Plast Rubber Compos 32(6):240–247
Zhao J, Mayes R, Chen G, Xie H, Chan P (2003b) Effects of process parameters on the micro molding process. Polym Eng Sci 43(9):1542–1554
Zhao J, Chen G, Juay Y (2007) Development of process monitoring technologies for polymer micro moulding process. Available at http://www.simtech.a-star.edu.sg/Research/TechnicalReports/TR0321.pdf. Accessed 2 March 2007
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Attia, U.M., Marson, S. & Alcock, J.R. Micro-injection moulding of polymer microfluidic devices. Microfluid Nanofluid 7, 1–28 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0421-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0421-x