Microfluidic systems made with fused deposition modeling printer have poor resolution. Because the layers are not aligned due to the mechanical limitations of the printer, a so-called ridge pattern occurs on inclined surfaces and (ridge pattern) between the layers. However surface roughness can be reduced with right parameters or post processing. Suitable solvent can melt top layer of material. Slurry than fills the gaps between the layers. we used this concept to treat a simple Y chip made from polylactic acid (PLA) with ethyl acetate vapor for 5 minutes. We compared dye mixing ratios before and after processing 5 mm away from intersection. Flow in chip was observed with digital camera. We found out that this method is not suited for microfluidic devices.
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