Ober TJ, Foresti D, Lewis JA. Active mixing of complex fluids at the microscale.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015;
112:12293-8. [PMID:
26396254 PMCID:
PMC4603479 DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1509224112]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Mixing of complex fluids at low Reynolds number is fundamental for a broad range of applications, including materials assembly, microfluidics, and biomedical devices. Of these materials, yield stress fluids (and gels) pose the most significant challenges, especially when they must be mixed in low volumes over short timescales. New scaling relationships between mixer dimensions and operating conditions are derived and experimentally verified to create a framework for designing active microfluidic mixers that can efficiently homogenize a wide range of complex fluids. Active mixing printheads are then designed and implemented for multimaterial 3D printing of viscoelastic inks with programmable control of local composition.
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