3D printing holds potential as a faster, cheaper alternative compared with traditional photolithography for the fabrication of microfluidic devices by replica molding. However, the influence of printing resolution and quality on device design and performance has yet to receive detailed study. Here, we investigate the use of 3D-printed molds to create staggered herringbone mixers (SHMs) with feature sizes ranging from ∼100 to 500 μm. We provide guidelines for printer calibration to ensure accurate printing at these length scales and quantify the impacts of print variability on SHM performance. We show that SHMs produced by 3D printing generate well-mixed output streams across devices with variable heights and defects, demonstrating that 3D printing is suitable and advantageous for low-cost, high-throughput SHM manufacturing.

中文翻译：

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3D 打印交错人字形混合器的设计和表征。

与通过复制成型制造微流体设备的传统光刻相比，3D 打印具有作为更快、更便宜的替代方案的潜力。然而，打印分辨率和质量对设备设计和性能的影响尚未得到详细研究。在这里，我们研究了使用 3D 打印模具来创建特征尺寸范围从 100 到 500 μm 的交错人字形混合器 (SHM)。我们提供打印机校准指南，以确保在这些长度范围内进行准确打印，并量化打印可变性对 SHM 性能的影响。我们展示了 3D 打印产生的 SHM 在具有可变高度和缺陷的设备之间生成混合良好的输出流，证明 3D 打印适用于低成本、高吞吐量的 SHM 制造并具有优势。