Mechanical characterization of glass–ceramics substrate with embedded microstructure

One of the biggest challenge in the microfluidic channel fabrication in glass–ceramics or so called low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) is the elimination of channel deformation during lamination. In this paper the expected deformation of the substrate and the sacrificial layer (starch powder and 3D printed UV polymerized material) during the lamination process of microfluidic structure fabrication is described. The choice of sacrificial volume material (SVM) plays an important role in channel deformation. Two types of SVM were investigated considering the width of the channel and the applicability. Uniaxial compression and Jenike shear test was used to obtain the mechanical parameters of starch SVM. To determine the stress–strain characteristics of LTCC uniaxial compression experiment was conducted. The shape of the laminated LTCC containing embedded channel was modeled by finite element method using the mechanical parameters obtained by the measurements. A design rule is given considering the channel width and the choice of SVM based on the simulation results.