Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Palaparthy, Vamsidhar
Author's Email Address	vpalap1@lsu.edu
URN	etd-03162007-170047
Title	Manufacturing and Characterization Of High-Aspect Ratio Diffusive Micro-Mixers
Degree	Master of Science (M.S.)
Department	Mechanical Engineering
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos Committee Chair Michael C. Murphy Committee Member Ram Devireddy Committee Member
Keywords	mixing in micro channels manufacturing high aspect ratio diffusive micro mixers
Date of Defense	2006-12-11
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract In the Ligase Detection Reaction (LDR) technique different chemical reagents of varying concentration are mixed with the by-products of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of low abundant cancer diagnostic markers [1]. An effective micro-mixer which is cheap, durable over a relatively broad range of flows with easy manufacturing is required in this process. This work is aimed at manufacturing mixers according to the required specifications with metrology at every manufacturing process to estimate the limits and tolerances during manufacturing and analyzing their efficiency both numerically and experimentally. An optimum mixer design developed earlier by Maha et.al [2] is used for this study. Additional numerical simulations are performed using Fluent on this mixer design for varying flow ratios in mixing streams. Micro milled mold insert is used to fabricate micro-mixers using the hot embossing process. These hot-embossed polymer based mixers are used in a micro-fluidic module that was designed and developed to carry out the LDR [1]. Micro channels with an aspect ratio of 12 are achieved which are further used for mixing experiments involving a Rhodamine B fluorescent dye solution and deionized water. An inverted epi-flourescent microscope setup with a continuous flow mercury lamp is used to observe the fluorescence signal.
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