Abstract
3D-printed porous microfluidics has been proposed to realize complex passive lab-on-chips. The performance of these devices depends on capillary flow design and control. To this end, a predictive multiscale model of capillary imbibition in porous channels obtained through powder-based 3D printing was developed. Pore-network modelling was used to obtain fluid flow characteristics of the printed material depending on the porous microstructure and hydrophilicity, coupled to the Richards equation. The latter was solved numerically to predict capillary flow in printed chips. Dynamic high-resolution microcomputed tomography (µCT) was employed for in situ verification of the capillary imbibition, which was found to be slower than theoretically expected. Channels with a larger cross-section demonstrated faster wicking, suggesting higher hydrophilicity. Multiscale simulations suggest that this phenomenon as well as the delayed imbibition initiation are caused by modifications of the porous channel surface during and after 3D printing.
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Acknowledgements
The FWO large infrastructure I013518N project is acknowledged for their financial support and the KU Leuven XCT Core facility is acknowledged for the 3D image acquisition and quantitative post-processing tools (https://xct.kuleuven.be/).
Funding
This research was funded by the Research Foundation Flanders—FWO Vlaanderen (SB Scholarship No. 1S44318N). R.A., B.N., P.V., and C.P.-C. additionally acknowledge the financial support from KU Leuven (project C24/16/022) and the Research Foundation Flanders—FWO Vlaanderen (Projects no. 1516717N, 1512320N, and G084818N). C.P-C. acknowledges the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO) for a postdoctoral fellowship (12U8718N) and the research Grant 1512320N.
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Experimental data were collected by AP and TA with help and supervision of JS and RD. AP with the help of RN, TA and BD developed and optimized the multiscale model, supervised by PV and BN. CA, RD and CP-C provided the 3D printed platforms. AP drafted the manuscript, all the other authors provided feedback and revisions.
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Piovesan, A., Nicasy, R., Arens, T. et al. Multiscale modelling of capillary imbibition in 3D-printed porous microfluidic channels. Microfluid Nanofluid 26, 21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-022-02528-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-022-02528-0