Why are 3D-printed molds inhibiting PDMS curing?

Bastien Venzac*, Shanliang Deng, Ziad Mahmoud, Aufried Lenferink, Fabrice Bray, Cees Otto, Christian Rolando, Séverine Le Gac

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Silicone curing inhibition using 3D-printed molds is a commonly encountered issue, that we addressed previously by proposing a universal post-treatment of molds. Still, curing inhibition mechanisms and how this was solved by UV and/or thermal treatments remained a mystery. Here, we report that curing inhibition is caused by leaching of phosphine oxide photo-initiator fragments from the molds, and that our post-treatment recipe allowed completion of the resin polymerization, elimination of these small fragments of photo-initiators by vaporization as well as their recombination into large molecular weight compounds that remained trapped in the molds.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMicroTAS 2020 - 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences
PublisherThe Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society
Pages282-283
Number of pages2
ISBN (Electronic)9781733419017
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Event24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, µTAS 2020 - Virtual Event
Duration: 4 Oct 20209 Oct 2020
Conference number: 24
https://microtas2020.org/

Conference

Conference24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, µTAS 2020
Abbreviated titleMicroTAS 2020
CityVirtual Event
Period4/10/209/10/20
Internet address

Keywords

  • 3D-printing
  • PDMS curing inhibition
  • Soft-lithography

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