Success with Capillary Tube Inlet and Outlets
In order to test the sealing of the capillary tubing the PDMS I made a batch of PDMS with a recess in it (from a dime). Once this cured I used the UV Ozone process (@25C) to bond the PDMS to a glass microscope slide. When I arrived this morning the system was fully bound.
I attached one of the capillary tubes to the micro-pump and allowed the recess that was formed by the dime to slowly fill with water. Once the void was nearly completely filled water began to slowly drip out of the outlet capillary tube, while no water was found to be coming out of the PDMS where the tube was inserted. I ran this trial at the highest flow rate that the micro-pump was able to generate so this shows that the PDMS seal around the capillary tubes should be sufficient for any trials we want to preform in the future.
system set up for flow test….
initial drops entering the center “dime” void….
Large water drop forming in center “dime” void….
Drop forming at outlet of capillary tube.
Note: This process took about 15minutes total for the void to fill and the droplet to form.
Looks like progress although we need the bonding to work every time.
I’m especially impressed with how you microfabricated an impression of Roosevelt’s face.