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US 6,375,871 B1Granted
Methods of manufacturing microfluidic articles
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsJames G. Bentsen, Raymond P. Johnston, Rolf W. Biernath, Richard J. Poirier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for preparing a molded article that includes: (a) bringing a moldable material and an open molding tool comprising a molding surface into line contact with each other to imprint a microfluid processing architecture pattern onto the moldable material and thereby form a molded article; and (b) separating the molded article from said molding surface. The invention also features various microfluid processing architecture-bearing, polymeric articles.
Claims19
A continuous process for preparing a molded article comprising:
- (a) providing a supply of flowable material and an open molding tool that comprises a molding surface;
- (b) continuously bringing the flowable material and the molding surface of the open molding tool into line contact with each other, forming a plurality of microfluid processing architecture patterns within said flowable material and thereafter solidifying the flowable material, thereby forming a molded article having at least one self-contained structure in accordance with each microfluid processing architecture pattern including at least one structural end point and at least one structural portion having a depth dimension of about 50 micrometers and a width dimension ranging from about 4 to about 64 micrometers;
- and
- (c) separating said molded article from said molding surface.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.