A novel method of manufacturing a microchannel with integrating three-dimensional microstructure arrays for mixing experiment

A method for manufacturing glass channels with a three-dimensional microstructure array via the micromilling technique is proposed. The three-dimensional microstructure array includes microcolumns, microcones, and microspheres. Then, the glass chip with the three-dimensional microstructure array is bonded with a polydimethylsiloxane chip. To obtain the optimum structure, the experiment of the contact angle is implemented. The results demonstrate that among the three different shapes, the contact angle of the microcolumn array is the largest with a value of 74.3° ± 2.4°. Compared with the other two structures, the microcolumn array is more helpful for continuous liquid mixing. Furthermore, with the increase in the array depth, the contact angle becomes small with the minimum contact angle of 37.9° ± 1.4°. Meanwhile, with the increase in the microcolumn diameter and array spacing, the contact angle becomes large with the maximum contact angle of 83.9° ± 1.4°. In addition, a mixing experiment is developed to verify the practicability of the chip. Compared to other processing methods, this method obtains the advantages of high efficiency and flexibility.