Microfluidic behaviour of perfluoropolyether fluids in poly(dimethylsiloxane) micro-channels

Two different perfluoropolyether-based fluids, namely the unfunctionalized GALDEN SV90 (R) and the dihydroxy derivative FOMBLIN Z-DOL (R) 2000 were employed as liquid samples in a poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic setup, fabricated by soft-lithography techniques. The results of our investigation were compared with the behaviour of the low viscosity and high-fragility polyurethane structural adhesive (NOA72 (R)), that is well known as an excellent material for the fabrication of sub-micrometer structures by soft-lithography techniques, and whose structural elastic properties inside restricted geometric systems have been recently investigated. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.