Polymers made for microfluidics

OSTEMER Crystal Clear

OSTEMER 322 Crystal Clear is a polymer for rapid prototyping and manufacturing of microfluidic devices. The devices are stiff and transparent and do not absorb small molecules or swell in the most common solvents. The unique direct dry bonding enables easy assembly of multi-materials devices without using plasma, glue or adhesives. The material has been tested to be compatible with numerous cell lines.

The OSTEMER Crystal Clear is a two-stage cure polymer. After mixing the two components the liquid resin is first shaped by UV-casting or injection molding, using a rapid UV-cure (365 nm), to form a rubbery PDMS-like sticker. The sticker is removed from the mold, aligned to a substrate or sandwiched with another material, and thereafter thermally hardened in an oven to stiffen and form a bond. The OSTEMER 322 uses a built-in epoxy bonding mechanism and can therefore bond to a very large range of different materials.

Being UV-curing, OSTEMER Crystal Clear can also be shaped by direct lithography using glass or plastic masks and collimated UV-light.

Key benefits:

  • Rapid turn-around times for prototyping
  • Very low shrinkage
  • Easily bond with other materials without need for plasma, adhesives or glue
  • End-result looks and feels like injection molded thermoplastics
  • Can be surface modified to desired wetting (of hydrophobic) properties
  • Confirmed compatible with many cell lines
  • Can be shaped by molding, lithography, milling, and more

Key properties

First cure UV exposure, 365 nm
Second cure Oven cure 90-110°C, 1 hour
Young’s modulus 1.5 GPa after full cure
Color Optically clear (390 – 900 nm), low autofluorescence
Bonds to Glass, silicon, metals, metal oxides, other OSTEMER products
Polymerisation shrinkage < 1%, the resin has a very late gel point, so by having connected unexposed reservoirs during the UV-cure, the shrinkage can be reduced to almost 0%.
Solvent resistance Toluene, Acetone, DMSO, Ethanol, Methanol
Acid resistance 10% sulfuric acid > 1 month
Compatible molds Patterned silicone (PDMS), aluminum, PET, or any material coated with a release coating

Typical molding process

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OSTEMER Crystal Clear is product from Mecene Labs AB, maker of resins for microsystem technology. Since the introduction of OSTEMER polymers we now have more than 100 customers worldwide, both companies and academic research groups. All of our OSTEMER products are produced in Sweden and we ship worldwide, usually within 5-7 days.

Mercene Labs AB / Teknikringen 38, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden (EU-VAT SE5568837354) – sales@ostemers.com