Purpose

The purpose of this study is to introduce an alternative construction for microfluidic micromixers, where the effect of the extruded filaments in the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique is used to enhance mixing performance identified as a challenge in microfluidic micromixers.

Design/methodology/approach

A simple Y-shaped micromixer was designed and printed using FDM technique. Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the effect of the extruded filaments on the flow behavior. The effects of the extruded width (LW), distance between adjacent filaments (b) and filament height (h₁) are investigated on the mixing performance and enhancing mixing in the fabricated devices. The performance of fabricated devices in mixing two solutions was tested at flow rates of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 150 µL/min.

Findings

The experimental results showed that the presence of geometrical features on microchannels, because of the nature of the FDM process, can act as ridges and generate a lateral transform through the transverse movement of fluids along the groove. The results showed the effect of increasing ridge height on the transverse movement of the fluids and, therefore, chaotic mixing over the ridges. In contrast, in the shallow ridge, diffusion is the only mechanism for mixing, which confirms the numerical results.

Originality/value

The study presents an exciting aspect of FDM for fabrication of micromixers and enhance mixing process. In comparison to other methods, no complexity was added in fabrication process and the ridges are an inherent property of the FDM process.

中文翻译：

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利用熔融沉积建模的局限性来增强 3D 打印微流体设备中的混合

目的

本研究的目的是为微流体微混合器引入一种替代结构，其中挤压丝在熔融沉积建模 (FDM) 技术中的作用被用来提高混合性能，这被认为是微流体微混合器中的一个挑战。

设计/方法/方法

使用 FDM 技术设计并打印了一个简单的 Y 形微混合器。进行了实验和数值研究以研究挤出的长丝对流动行为的影响。研究了挤出宽度 (LW)、相邻细丝之间的距离 ( b ) 和细丝高度 ( h ₁ ) 对混合性能和增强制造装置中的混合的影响。在 5、10、20、40、80 和 150 µL/min 的流速下测试了混合两种溶液时制造的装置的性能。

发现

实验结果表明，由于 FDM 过程的性质，微通道上几何特征的存在可以充当脊并通过流体沿凹槽的横向运动产生横向变换。结果表明增加脊高度对流体的横向运动的影响，因此，在脊上的混沌混合。相比之下，在浅脊中，扩散是唯一的混合机制，这证实了数值结果。

原创性/价值

该研究展示了 FDM 用于制造微混合器和增强混合过程的一个令人兴奋的方面。与其他方法相比，在制造过程中没有增加复杂性，脊是 FDM 工艺的固有属性。