Study of Mechanical Properties of Photo Polymer Lab-on-a-Chip Structures Fabricated by Scan-Based Microstereolithography

Microstereolithography is one of the key technologies that extensively supports the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in applications that are relevant to medical and many other industries. This technology has been utilised in industrial environments primarily for the development of prototypes. In the current body of work reported in this chapter, an attempt has been made in developing a stable prototype of micro components for use in biomedical investigations to investigate samples made by a polymer blend of Benzoin Ethyl Ether as a photoinitiator and the Hexanediol Diacrylate monomer. The materials with tested properties are used to fabricate the samples for mechanical properties testing using a nanoindenter. The study primarily focuses on the effect of light intensity, scan rate, scan pitch, layer thickness and stacking pattern of layers over the mechanical strength of the components. The optimised process parameters are later used in the development of components suitable in microfluidic applications especially for lab-on-a-chip (LOC).