Presenter: Conner Mantz, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Authors: Conner Blair Mantz
Faculty Advisor: Troy Munro, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Institution: Brigham Young University
With the increased interest in microfluidic devices in the biomedical field, rapid device construction using 3D printing can open new opportunities. However, for understanding the temperature distribution inside the device, the properties of printing resin need to be known, but that information is often unavailable. We propose using the Transient Hot-Wire Method (THM) with a liquid metal as our transient hot-wire to measure the thermal conductivity of resins to inform accurate thermal models for temperature control in other microfluidic projects. The novelties of the project are that not much work has been done for microfluidic thermal conductivity and limited studies have liquid metals as a transient hot-wire to measure thermal conductivity. We have designed devices, used COMSOL simulations to predict temperatures, printed and filled the devices with liquid metal, performed the resistance-temperature calibration, and are in the midst of taking measurements for the chips to find the thermal conductivity. Our findings will also show a way to measure the thermal conductivity quickly for resins and 3D printed materials quickly.