In this work, a 3D-printed metal column was developed for micro gas chromatography (GC) applications and its properties and gas separation performances were characterized. By using a Ti6Al4V grade 23 powder, a square spiral one meter-long column (3D-column) was 3D-printed on a planar substrate of 3.4 × 3.3 × 0.2 cm and then perhydropolysilazane (PHPS) was deposited as a pre-treatment agent, followed by a coating of stationary phase (OV-1) onto the inner wall of the micro-channel. The 500 μm-diameter circular channel and two 800 μm-wide ports of the 3D-column were confirmed to be uniform by 3D X-ray microscopy without any distortion. The physical and thermal properties of the 3D-column were found to be very similar to that of the standard Ti6Al4V grade 23 alloy with near zero porosity (∼0.07%). The 3D-column with pre-treatment and stationary coating demonstrated efficient separation performance of gas mixtures containing alkanes, aromatics, alcohols, and ketones compared to a bare or only pretreated 3D-column in terms of the peak shape, broadening, and resolution (R > 1) within 2–3 min. The well-matched thermal responses to the target temperatures were demonstrated at the ramping rates of 10–20 °C min⁻¹ upto 200 °C with uniform heat distribution over the 3D-column. In addition, the column bleed profiles showed that the 3D-column with PHPS had a 71% lower baseline intensity at 350 °C than that without PHPS. The 3D-column was then employed to separate a gas mixture of twelve alkanes (C9–C18, C22, C24) without any significant column bleeding and peak tailing. Therefore, the thermal responses and stability of the 3D-column promise its applicability in high temperature GC applications.

中文翻译：

---

用于微气相色谱的3D打印金属柱。

在这项工作中，为微型气相色谱（GC）应用开发了3D打印金属柱，并对其特性和气体分离性能进行了表征。通过使用Ti6Al4V 23级粉末，在3.4×3.3×0.2 cm的平面基板上3D打印一个方螺旋长一米的柱（3D柱），然后沉积全氢聚硅氮烷（PHPS）作为预处理剂，然后在微通道的内壁上涂覆固定相（OV-1）。通过3D X射线显微镜确认直径为500μm的圆形通道和两个800μm宽的3D柱端口是均匀的，没有任何变形。发现3D柱的物理和热性能与孔隙率几乎为零（约0.07％）的标准Ti6Al4V 23级合金非常相似。R > 1）在2-3分钟内。在10–20°C min ^-1到200°C的升温速率下，对目标温度的热响应表现出很好的匹配性，并且在3D柱上的热量分布均匀。此外，柱流失曲线表明，使用PHPS的3D色谱柱在350°C时的基线强度比未使用PHPS的3D色谱柱低71％。然后使用3D柱分离出十二种烷烃（C9–C18，C22，C24）的混合气体，而没有任何明显的色谱柱渗漏和峰拖尾现象。因此，3D色谱柱的热响应和稳定性保证了其在高温GC应用中的适用性。