Follow On: Plastic Microcapillary Film Development

Microcapillary Film (MCF) is a new invention from the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge where the film or ribbon consists of a high-precision, flexible, plastic film containing multiple, parallel, hollow microcapillaries. MCFs are produced by a novel continuous extrusion process and the current product has been identified to have, amongst other potential uses, application as a lowcost, disposable, micro fluidic device. The Follow on project will allow development of the MCF process to (1) make MCFs from solvent resistant thermoplastics for microreactor application, (2) produce semi permeable MCF membrane for separations and (3) manufacture sub micron microcapillaries for photonics application. In addition to the project proving commercial evaluation, this Follow on project will also enable further scientific advances to be made in the precision extrusion behaviour of thermoplastics to produce micro- and nano-voided polymers.