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• Lass, N
• Riegger, L
• Zengerle, R
• Koltay, P
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• Riegger, L
• Zengerle, R
• Koltay, P

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Micromachines 2013, 4(1), 49-66; doi:10.3390/mi4010049

Article

Enhanced Liquid Metal Micro Droplet Generation by Pneumatic Actuation Based on the StarJet Method

Nils Lass ^1,* , Lutz Riegger ^1,2 , Roland Zengerle ¹  and Peter Koltay ^1,2

¹ Laboratory for MEMS Applications, IMTEK, Department of Microsystems Engineering, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany ² BioFluidix GmbH, Georges Köhler Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 5 December 2012; in revised form: 4 February 2013 / Accepted: 4 February 2013 / Published: 11 March 2013

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected papers from 1st International Conference on Microfluidic Handling Systems)

Download PDF Full-Text [1978 KB, uploaded 11 March 2013 15:31 CET]

Abstract: We present a novel pneumatic actuation system for generation of liquid metal droplets according to the so-called StarJet method. In contrast to our previous work, the performance of the device has been significantly improved: the maximum droplet generation frequency in continuous mode has been increased to f_max = 11 kHz (formerly f_max = 4 kHz). In addition, the droplet diameter has been reduced to 60 μm. Therefore, a new fabrication process for the silicon nozzle chips has been developed enabling the production of smaller nozzle chips with higher surface quality. The size of the metal reservoir has been increased to hold up to 22 mL liquid metal and the performance and durability of the actuator has been improved by using stainless steel and a second pneumatic connection to control the sheath flow. Experimental results are presented regarding the characterization of the droplet generation, as well as printed metal structures.

Keywords: StarJet; metal droplets; 3D-printing; rapid prototyping; droplet generator; microparticle; soldering; bumping

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