Chapter 1
Mixing at Microscale
Abstract Micromixers are essential components of lab-on-a-chip and micro-total
analysis systems used for a variety of chemical and biological applications such as
sample preparation and analysis, protein folding, DNA analysis, and cell separation.
Due to the small characteristic dimension of micromixers, the flow is laminar in a
Reynolds number range from 0.01 to 100 for typical microfluidic applications. In
microfluidic devices, the laminar flow condition poses a challenge for the mixing
of liquid samples. Therefore, for high performance lab-on-a-chip and micro-total
analysis systems, it is essential to develop and devise micromixers to achieve fast and
compact mixing at the micro-scale. Although mixing can involve different phases
(solid, liquid and gases), the present book focuses on liquid–liquid mixing such
as water–ethanol mixing. This chapter provides an introduction to application of
micromixers, flow dynamics and mixing in micromixers, and dimensionless numbers
which characterize flow and mixing regimes.
Keywords Mixing at microscale · Micromixer · Laminar flow · Lab-on-a-chip ·
Micro-total analysis systems
1.1 Applications of Micromixers
Microfluidic systems, such as lab-on-a-chip and micro-total analysis system
(μ-TAS) with dimensions of the order of microns have gained widespread attention.
Micromixers have emerged as an important component of lab-on-a-chip and μ-TAS
used for wide variety of chemical and biological applications [1–9]. A micromixer
aims to mix two or more samples produced from prior processes of a microfluidic
system. The chemical applications of micromixers include chemical synthesis, polymerization, and extraction, while the biological applications include DNA analysis,
biological screening enzyme assays and protein folding. Also, micromixers are main
component of microreactors, and used during the manipulation of reagents and catalyst concentration. The majority of applications required Reynolds number (Re) in
a range of 0.1 ≤ Re ≤ 100.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Afzal and K.-Y. Kim, Analysis and Design Optimization of Micromixers,
SpringerBriefs in Computational Mechanics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4291-0_1
1
Mixing at Microscale
Abstract Micromixers are essential components of lab-on-a-chip and micro-total
analysis systems used for a variety of chemical and biological applications such as
sample preparation and analysis, protein folding, DNA analysis, and cell separation.
Due to the small characteristic dimension of micromixers, the flow is laminar in a
Reynolds number range from 0.01 to 100 for typical microfluidic applications. In
microfluidic devices, the laminar flow condition poses a challenge for the mixing
of liquid samples. Therefore, for high performance lab-on-a-chip and micro-total
analysis systems, it is essential to develop and devise micromixers to achieve fast and
compact mixing at the micro-scale. Although mixing can involve different phases
(solid, liquid and gases), the present book focuses on liquid–liquid mixing such
as water–ethanol mixing. This chapter provides an introduction to application of
micromixers, flow dynamics and mixing in micromixers, and dimensionless numbers
which characterize flow and mixing regimes.
Keywords Mixing at microscale · Micromixer · Laminar flow · Lab-on-a-chip ·
Micro-total analysis systems
1.1 Applications of Micromixers
Microfluidic systems, such as lab-on-a-chip and micro-total analysis system
(μ-TAS) with dimensions of the order of microns have gained widespread attention.
Micromixers have emerged as an important component of lab-on-a-chip and μ-TAS
used for wide variety of chemical and biological applications [1–9]. A micromixer
aims to mix two or more samples produced from prior processes of a microfluidic
system. The chemical applications of micromixers include chemical synthesis, polymerization, and extraction, while the biological applications include DNA analysis,
biological screening enzyme assays and protein folding. Also, micromixers are main
component of microreactors, and used during the manipulation of reagents and catalyst concentration. The majority of applications required Reynolds number (Re) in
a range of 0.1 ≤ Re ≤ 100.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Afzal and K.-Y. Kim, Analysis and Design Optimization of Micromixers,
SpringerBriefs in Computational Mechanics,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4291-0_1
1