Rapid Fabrication of Bio-inspired 3D Microfluidic Vascular Networks
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abstract
The rapid fabrication of bioinspired 3D microfluidic vascular networks has been demonstrated. The planar micro channel is harnessed to produce 2D micro channel arrays that can he stacked in a layer-by-layer fashion to achieve a limited degree of three-dimensionality. This process harnesses electron beam irradiation to implant a high level of electric charge inside a substrate so that the energy released upon discharge will be sufficiently intense to locally vaporize and fracture the surrounding material. Polished blocks are desirable when constructing discharge networks using the grounded contact method because they reduce nucleation of unwanted spontaneous discharges that may occur due surface imperfections. The qualitative and quantitative resemblance of these branched 3D micro channel networks to anatomical vascular trees is remarkable in terms of both global architecture and local morphology.