Bidirectional Magnetic Polymer Membrane Actuators Integrated into Thermoplastic Microfluidics

• Published in: 2020 IEEE 33rd International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) pp. 1056 - 1059
• Main Authors: Currie, Chelsey E., Gray, Bonnie L.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Actuators; Fabrication; hybrid microfluidic systems; Magnetic composite polymer; Magnetic field measurement; Powders; rare-earth magnetic powder; Routing; Valves; Volume measurement
• ISSN: 2160-1968
• DOI: 10.1109/MEMS46641.2020.9056284

We present the design, fabrication and characterization of flexible permanently-magnetized polymer actuators that exhibit strong bidirectional deflection when excited by very low magnetic fields (19-110 mT). The actuators have high stroke volume ( 0.5-7.4\ \mu \mathrm{L} of water) and simple fabrication which is suitable for microfluidic routing components (e.g., valves, pumps). A new hybrid PMMA/magnetic polymer fabrication process is developed to integrate the actuators with commercial thermoplastic microfluidics. Unlike previous magnetic membrane actuators, our actuators: 1) are tested by showing displacement of water, rather than displacement in air; 2) are integrated with thermoplastic microfluidic structures using a simple batch process; and 3) are permanently-magnetized, showing high stroke bidirectional displacement.