The manufacturing and replication of microfluidic mould inserts by the hot embossing process

[Display omitted] ► The copper feedstocks were prepared and analysed. The influence of mixing time, solid loading and roller speed was evaluated. ► The thermal properties were determined and employed to describe the conditions for mixing, hot embossing and debinding. ► The dimensional shrinkage, density, and surface roughness vs. sintering temperatures were systemically investigated in this study. In this paper, the manufacturing of metallic microfluidic mould inserts is studied based on the hot embossing process. The feedstocks are prepared and analysed. The quality of the feedstock resulting from the mixing process is found to depend on numerous parameters, such as the mixing time, the mixing temperature, the shear rate and the powder loading. The present mixing study is conducted with copper powders. The thermal and rheological properties of the selected feedstock under various mixing conditions are determined and used to establish the necessary conditions for mixing, hot embossing and debinding to obtain the copper microfluidic mould inserts. Sintering at different temperatures is conducted under vacuum. The effects of the sintering temperatures are evaluated based on the sintered microstructures. In this work, the dimensional variations in the microfluidic samples, in particular the dimensional shrinkage, global warpage and surface roughness at each stage of the process, are quantified and compared in detail.