Microfluidic in situ mechanical testing of photopolymerized gels

Camille Duprat; Hélène Berthet; Jason S. Wexler; Olivia Du Roure; Anke Lindner

Microfluidic in situ mechanical testing of photopolymerized gels

Camille Duprat ^{1, 2} Hélène Berthet ² Jason S. Wexler ² Olivia Du Roure ² Anke Lindner ²

2 PMMH - Physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogenes

Abstract : Gels are a functional template for micro-particle fabrication and microbiology experiments. The control and knowledge of their mechanical properties is critical in a number of applications, but no simple in situ method exists to determine these properties. We propose a novel microfluidic based method that directly measures the mechanical properties of the gel upon its fabrication. We measure the deformation of a gel beam under a controlled flow forcing, which gives us a direct access to the Young's modulus of the material itself. We then use this method to determine the mechanical properties of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) under various experimental conditions. The mechanical properties of the gel can be highly tuned, yielding two order of magnitude in the Young's modulus. The method can be easily implemented to allow for an in situ direct measurement and control of Young's moduli under various experimental conditions.

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Physics [physics] / Mechanics [physics] / Mechanics of the fluids [physics.class-ph]

Complete list of metadatas

https://hal-polytechnique.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01114974
Contributor : Denis Roura <>
Submitted on : Tuesday, February 10, 2015 - 12:37:47 PM
Last modification on : Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 11:00:05 AM

Microfluidic in situ mechanical testing of photopolymerized gels

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Microfluidic in situ mechanical testing of photopolymerized gels

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