An easily fabricated three-dimensional threaded lemniscate-shaped micromixer for a wide range of flow rates

Rafeie, M; Welleweerd, M; Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi, A; Asadnia, M; Olthuis, W; Warkiani, ME

An easily fabricated three-dimensional threaded lemniscate-shaped micromixer for a wide range of flow rates

Rafeie, M Welleweerd, M Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi, A Asadnia, M Olthuis, W Warkiani, ME

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Biomicrofluidics, 2017, 11 (1)
Issue Date:: 2017-01-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	BIOMGB-000011-014108_1.pdf	Published Version	4.57 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Rafeie, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Welleweerd, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Asadnia, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Olthuis, W	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Warkiani, ME https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4184-1944	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Biomicrofluidics, 2017, 11 (1)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1932-1058	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/126778
dc.description.abstract	Mixing fluid samples or reactants is a paramount function in the fields of micro total analysis system (μTAS) and microchemical processing. However, rapid and efficient fluid mixing is difficult to achieve inside microchannels because of the difficulty of diffusive mass transfer in the laminar regime of the typical microfluidic flows. It has been well recorded that the mixing efficiency can be boosted by migrating from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) geometries. Although several 3D chaotic mixers have been designed, most of them offer a high mixing efficiency only in a very limited range of Reynolds numbers (Re). In this work, we developed a 3D fine-threaded lemniscate-shaped micromixer whose maximum numerical and empirical efficiency is around 97% and 93%, respectively, and maintains its high performance (i.e., >90%) over a wide range of 1<Re<1000 which meets the requirements of both the μTAS and microchemical process applications. The 3D micromixer was designed based on two distinct mixing strategies, namely, the inducing of chaotic advection by the presence of Dean flow and diffusive mixing through thread-like grooves around the curved body of the mixers. First, a set of numerical simulations was performed to study the physics of the flow and to determine the essential geometrical parameters of the mixers. Second, a simple and cost-effective method was exploited to fabricate the convoluted structure of the micromixers through the removal of a 3D-printed wax structure from a block of cured polydimethylsiloxane. Finally, the fabricated mixers with different threads were tested using a fluorescent microscope demonstrating a good agreement with the results of the numerical simulation. We envisage that the strategy used in this work would expand the scope of the micromixer technology by broadening the range of efficient working flow rate and providing an easy way to the fabrication of 3D convoluted microstructures.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Biomicrofluidics	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1063/1.4974904	en_US
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject.classification	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	en_US
dc.title	An easily fabricated three-dimensional threaded lemniscate-shaped micromixer for a wide range of flow rates	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	11	en_US
utslib.for	0915 Interdisciplinary Engineering	en_US
utslib.for	1007 Nanotechnology	en_US
utslib.for	0203 Classical Physics	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Biomedical Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CHT - Health Technologies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - IBMD - Initiative for Biomedical Devices
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	11	en_US

Abstract:

Mixing fluid samples or reactants is a paramount function in the fields of micro total analysis system (μTAS) and microchemical processing. However, rapid and efficient fluid mixing is difficult to achieve inside microchannels because of the difficulty of diffusive mass transfer in the laminar regime of the typical microfluidic flows. It has been well recorded that the mixing efficiency can be boosted by migrating from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) geometries. Although several 3D chaotic mixers have been designed, most of them offer a high mixing efficiency only in a very limited range of Reynolds numbers (Re). In this work, we developed a 3D fine-threaded lemniscate-shaped micromixer whose maximum numerical and empirical efficiency is around 97% and 93%, respectively, and maintains its high performance (i.e., >90%) over a wide range of 1

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/126778