A spring-driven press device for hot embossing and thermal bonding of PMMA microfluidic chips

A novel spring-driven press device was designed and manufactured for hot embossing and thermal bonding of PMMA microfluidic chips in this work. This simple device consisted of two semi-cylinder silicone rubber press heads, three steel clamping plates, and three compression springs that were assembled together using two screw bolts and two butterfly nuts. The three springs were clamped between the upper and the middle clamping plates, whereas the two press heads were assembled between the middle and the lower clamping plates. After an epoxy template covered by a PMMA plate or a PMMA channel plate together with a cover were sandwiched between two microscopic glass slides for embossing or bonding, respectively, they were clamped between the two elastic press heads of the press device by fastening the screw nuts on the upper clamping plate. Because the convex press heads applied pressure along the middle line of the glass slides, they would deform resulting in a negative pressure gradient from the middle to the sides so that air bubbles between the sandwiched parts could be squeezed out during embossing and bonding processes. High-quality PMMA microfluidic chips were prepared by using this unique device and were successfully applied in the electrophoretic separation of several cations.