A numerical study on thermal bonding with preheating technique for polypropylene microfluidic device

Abstract

This study presents a method for producing microfluidic chips from polypropylene using a pre-heated bonding area and thermal bonding technology. ANSYS was utilized to investigate the effects of bonding parameters and microchannel deformation and predict the bonding strength. Results show that careful control of these parameters is critical to achieve a strong and durable bond between the microfluidic chip layers. Higher bonding temperatures were found to lead to greater microchannel deformation, with deformation increasing significantly, as the temperature approached the material’s melting point. Increased bonding pressure after 1 MPa and a time of 300 s also led to greater microchannel deformation. The study’s analysis of stresses revealed that the maximum principle compressive stress on the edges of the bonding area increased significantly with pressure. Tensile testing showed that bonding strength was near failure at a tensile force of 5,500 N, indicating a bonding strength close to 1.5 MPa.

Keywords

• thermal bonding
• microfluidic
• numerical simulation
• preheated bonding area
• optimizing bonding parameters