Flowing and pressurizing a solid-liquid two phase monodispersed fluid with high solid content in a transparent microfluidic high-pressure chip

Handling highly concentrated solid-liquid two-phase fluids in microfluidics is challenging. In this paper, we present the first studies of flowing solder paste with a high solid content in a transparent high-pressure tolerant glass chip, thereby increasing the understanding of how multiphase liquids with high density difference between the phases behave in small channels (840 μm in diameter). The system, including a custom made high-pressure, low resistance, interface, was continuously operated at pressures up to of 6 MPa and devices where shown to have pressure tolerance up to 17 MPa. During flow through the chip, the packing density of the solder balls displayed inhomogeneity over the channel where chains of solder balls in contact with each other were formed together with voids. These in-homogeneities persisted along the channel during flow. The flow rate of the paste through the chip oscillated between 63 to 350 μm/s when pumping at constant volume rate of 30 μl/min. When a pressure of 2 MPa was applied, the volume of the solder paste particle segment decreased 1.6%, and 0.1% was elastically recovered when the pressure was released. It is concluded that this transparent microfluidic high-pressure glass chip with the special developed interface is suitable for flow studies of solder paste with a high solid content.