Investigation of different liquid silicone rubbers for micro pinch valves

摘要

A novel pinch valve has been developed for micro fluidic applications. It has significant advantages regarding dead volume, pressure tolerance, replaceability, scalability and dosage frequency in comparison to competing valve principles and other pinch valves. The transfer of the valve from laboratory sample to an industrial usage required particularly a modification of the tubes. A new geometry has to be developed and sufficient tube material has to be identified. Different silicone rubbers were examined in the course of prototype manufacturing. Preliminary investigations were carried out to qualify the manual manufacturing of the silicones, according to the manufactures specification. Based on these results, the new developed tubes were manufactured and compared to its technical properties. The required parameters were achieved by using heat-cured silicone elastomer. Preliminary dosage tests of the final developed pinch valve had shown good results and satisfy industrial specification.