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Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication

Soft lithography and replica molding have been an integral part of polymer basic microfabrication for over 20 years. The use of silicone rubber materials as either molds or directly molded parts are well described in the literature and have provided researchers with an easily accessible technique to...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Teng, Yue, Xiaokui, Sameoto, Dan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6187540/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30424339
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9080406
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author Zhang, Teng
Yue, Xiaokui
Sameoto, Dan
author_facet Zhang, Teng
Yue, Xiaokui
Sameoto, Dan
author_sort Zhang, Teng
collection PubMed
description Soft lithography and replica molding have been an integral part of polymer basic microfabrication for over 20 years. The use of silicone rubber materials as either molds or directly molded parts are well described in the literature and have provided researchers with an easily accessible technique to reproduce complex micro and nanostructures with minimal costs and technical challenges. Yet, for many applications, the use of standard silicones may not necessarily be the best choice, either as a mold material or as a replicated surface. For those instances where a mold is required that is high temperature tolerant, flexible, durable and capable of being used as a mold for multiple materials including silicone rubber, the most commonly used silicone rubber, Sylgard-184, has substantial deficiencies. In this work, we introduce a new material, Fluorosilicone that has not been described in the microfabrication field in detail and determine it is capable of reproducing micro structures via soft lithography techniques and being used as a mold for thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers, including silicone rubbers. Material compatibility, appropriate processing conditions for quality replicas and demonstration of extremely fast production of silicone microstructures are reported.
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spelling pubmed-61875402018-11-01 Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication Zhang, Teng Yue, Xiaokui Sameoto, Dan Micromachines (Basel) Article Soft lithography and replica molding have been an integral part of polymer basic microfabrication for over 20 years. The use of silicone rubber materials as either molds or directly molded parts are well described in the literature and have provided researchers with an easily accessible technique to reproduce complex micro and nanostructures with minimal costs and technical challenges. Yet, for many applications, the use of standard silicones may not necessarily be the best choice, either as a mold material or as a replicated surface. For those instances where a mold is required that is high temperature tolerant, flexible, durable and capable of being used as a mold for multiple materials including silicone rubber, the most commonly used silicone rubber, Sylgard-184, has substantial deficiencies. In this work, we introduce a new material, Fluorosilicone that has not been described in the microfabrication field in detail and determine it is capable of reproducing micro structures via soft lithography techniques and being used as a mold for thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers, including silicone rubbers. Material compatibility, appropriate processing conditions for quality replicas and demonstration of extremely fast production of silicone microstructures are reported. MDPI 2018-08-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6187540/ /pubmed/30424339 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9080406 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Zhang, Teng
Yue, Xiaokui
Sameoto, Dan
Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title_full Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title_fullStr Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title_full_unstemmed Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title_short Fluorosilicone as an Omnimold for Microreplication
title_sort fluorosilicone as an omnimold for microreplication
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6187540/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30424339
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi9080406
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AT yuexiaokui fluorosiliconeasanomnimoldformicroreplication
AT sameotodan fluorosiliconeasanomnimoldformicroreplication