Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics

Living Edition
| Editors: Dongqing Li

Powder Blasting

Living reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27758-0_1282-2

Synonyms

Definition

Powder blasting is a micromachining technique which uses a high-velocity air jet containing microparticles to impinge on and erode material from a surface.

Overview

Sand blasting is a traditional mechanical processing technique which can be found in a mechanical workshop. Sand blasting has been used commonly for removing rusty surface, dry paints, or contaminants from a metal work piece. From the mid-1990s, sand blasting was used to machine large arrays of holes in glass panels for large-area flat panel display devices. Thousands of holes could be machined in the glass at once, which was highly efficient and low cost [ 1]. Sand blasting was introduced as a microstructuring technique in early 2000, with the name of powder blasting because much smaller particles were used [ 2]. The principle of power blasting micromachining is that when a powder particle indents the surface of a brittle material such as glass or silicon, it generates...
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References

  1. 1.
    Ligthart HJ, Slikkerveer PJ (1996) Glass and glass machining in ZEUS panels. Philips J Res 50:475–499CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Belloy E, Thurre S, Walckiers E, Sayah A, Gijs MAM (2000) The introduction of powder blasting for sensor and microsystem applications. Sens Actuators 84:330–337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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    Cui Z (2006) Micro-nanofabrication technologies and applications. SpringerGoogle Scholar
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    Wensink H, Jansen HV, Berenschot JW, Elwenspoek MC (2000) Mask materials for powder blasting. J Micromech Microeng 10:175–180CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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    Schlautmann S, Wensink H, Schasfoort R, Elwenspoek M, van den Berg A (2001) Powder-blasting technology as an alternative tool for microfabrication of capillary electrophoresis chips with integrated conductivity sensors. J Micromech Microeng 11:386–389CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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    Pawlowski A-G, Sayah A, Gijs MAM (2005) Precision poly-(dimethyl siloxane) masking technology for high-resolution powder blasting. J Microelectromech Syst 14(3):619–624CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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    Sayah A, Parashar VK, Pawlowski A-G, Gijs MAM (2005) Elastomer mask for powder blasting microfabrication. Sens Actuators A 125:84–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Rutherford Appleton LaboratoryOxfordUK