TY - JOUR
T1 - Microfluidic jet impact: spreading, splashing, soft substrate deformation and injection
AU - van der Ven, Diana Laura
AU - Morrone, Davide
AU - Quetzeri Santiago, Miguel Angel
AU - Fernández Rivas , David
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 851630), and NWO Take-off phase 1 program funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Government of the Netherlands (No. 18844). The authors would like to thank J.J. Schoppink for both the contact angle measurements and discussions. The authors are thankful for the insightful discussions with K. Mohan and S. Schlautmann.
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No. 851630), and NWO Take-off phase 1 program funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Government of the Netherlands (No. 18844). The authors would like to thank J.J. Schoppink for both the contact angle measurements and discussions. The authors are thankful for the insightful discussions with K. Mohan and S. Schlautmann.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/4/15
Y1 - 2023/4/15
N2 - Hypothesis: Needle-free injections using microfluidic jets could be optimized by reducing splashing and controlling injection depth. However, this is impeded by an incomplete understanding on how jet characteristics influence impact outcome. We hypothesise that exploring the relation between microfluidic jet characteristics and substrate shear modulus on impact behavior will assist in predicting and giving insights on the impact outcome on skin and injection endpoints. Experiments: To do so, a setup using microfluidic chips, at varying laser powers and stand-off distances, was used to create thermocavitation generated microfluidic jets with ranging characteristics (velocity: 7–77 m/s, diameter: 35–120 μm, Weber-number: 40–4000), which were impacted on substrates with different shear modulus. Findings: Seven impact regimes were found, depending on jet Weber-number and substrate shear modulus, and we identified three thresholds: i) spreading/splashing threshold, ii) dimple formation threshold, and iii) plastic/elastic deformation threshold. The regimes show similarity to skin impact, although the opacity of skin complicated determining the threshold values. Additionally, we found that jet velocity has a higher predictive value for injection depth compared to the Weber-number, and consequently, the jet-diameter. Our findings provide fundamental knowledge on the interaction between microfluidic jets and substrates, and are relevant for optimizing needle-free injections.
AB - Hypothesis: Needle-free injections using microfluidic jets could be optimized by reducing splashing and controlling injection depth. However, this is impeded by an incomplete understanding on how jet characteristics influence impact outcome. We hypothesise that exploring the relation between microfluidic jet characteristics and substrate shear modulus on impact behavior will assist in predicting and giving insights on the impact outcome on skin and injection endpoints. Experiments: To do so, a setup using microfluidic chips, at varying laser powers and stand-off distances, was used to create thermocavitation generated microfluidic jets with ranging characteristics (velocity: 7–77 m/s, diameter: 35–120 μm, Weber-number: 40–4000), which were impacted on substrates with different shear modulus. Findings: Seven impact regimes were found, depending on jet Weber-number and substrate shear modulus, and we identified three thresholds: i) spreading/splashing threshold, ii) dimple formation threshold, and iii) plastic/elastic deformation threshold. The regimes show similarity to skin impact, although the opacity of skin complicated determining the threshold values. Additionally, we found that jet velocity has a higher predictive value for injection depth compared to the Weber-number, and consequently, the jet-diameter. Our findings provide fundamental knowledge on the interaction between microfluidic jets and substrates, and are relevant for optimizing needle-free injections.
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
U2 - 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.024
DO - 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.024
M3 - Article
SN - 0021-9797
VL - 636
SP - 549
EP - 558
JO - Journal of colloid and interface science
JF - Journal of colloid and interface science
ER -