Duprat Camille, Berthet Hélène, Wexler Jason S, du Roure Olivia, Lindner Anke
Laboratoire d'Hydrodynamique (LadHyx), Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Lab Chip. 2015 Jan 7;15(1):244-52. doi: 10.1039/c4lc01034e.
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.
凝胶是用于微粒制造和微生物学实验的功能性模板。对其力学性能的控制和了解在许多应用中至关重要，但目前尚无简单的原位方法来确定这些性能。我们提出了一种基于微流体的新方法，该方法可在凝胶制备过程中直接测量其力学性能。我们在受控的流动驱动力下测量凝胶梁的变形，这使我们能够直接获取材料本身的杨氏模量。然后，我们使用该方法在各种实验条件下确定聚乙二醇二丙烯酸酯（PEGDA）的力学性能。凝胶的力学性能可以高度调节，杨氏模量可产生两个数量级的变化。该方法可以很容易地实现，以便在各种实验条件下原位直接测量和控制杨氏模量。
