Abstract
In this study, we have demonstrated a particle separation device taking advantage of the high frequency sound waves. The sound waves, in the form of surface acoustic waves, are produced by an acoustofluidic platform built on top of a piezoelectric substrate bonded to a microfluidic channel. The particles’ mixture, pumped through the microchannel, is focused using a sheath fluid. A Travelling surface acoustic wave (TSAW), propagating normal to the flow, interacts with the particles and deflects them from their original path to induce size-based separation in a continuous flow. We initially started the experiment with 40 MHz TSAWs for deflecting 10 µm diameter polystyrene particles but failed. However, larger diameter particles (~ 30 µm) were successfully deflected from their streamlines and separated from the smaller particles (~ 10 µm) using TSAWs with 40 MHz frequency. The separation of smaller diameter particles (3, 5 and 7 µm) was also achieved using an order of magnitude higher-frequency (~ 133 MHz) TSAWs.
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Ghulam Destgeer received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Pakistan in 2010. He worked as a Lab Engineer at GIK Institute for one year before joining KAIST, Korea as a graduate student in 2011. After obtaining his Masters of Science degree from KAIST in 2013, he is currently in the 4th year of his pursuit of a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has been investigating travelling surface acoustic wave-based separation of particles. His research interests include microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology in general and acoustofluidics in particular.
Anas Alazzam is an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Prior joining Khalifa University, he was part of the research and development team at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Saint Hubert, Canada. Dr. Alazzam completed his Ph.D. in the area of Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in 2010 from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. He is involved in many research projects and he is the author of several articles published in high ranked journals and conference proceedings. He is also a member of several academic associations.
Hyung Jin Sung is a Principal Investigator at the Flow Control Laboratory and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at KAIST, Korea. He received his bachelor's degree from Seoul National University and his Ph.D. degree from KAIST. He has been enlisted as a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2013 for his contributions to turbulence, fluid-structure interaction and Acousto/microfluidics. He is also a recipient of KAIST Grand Prix Academic Award in 2009. He has been a co-author of more than 300 journal articles. His research interests include acoustofluidics, optofluidics, particle image velocimetry, fluid-structure interactions and turbulence.
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Destgeer, G., Alazzam, A. & Sung, H.J. High frequency travelling surface acoustic waves for microparticle separation. J Mech Sci Technol 30, 3945–3952 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0806-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-016-0806-1