Rheology and elastic behavior of soft pNIPAM micro-hydrogels in a microchannel
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Microparticles have a diversity of applications including drug delivery, cell encapsulation, biosensing, and cell separation, however in most applications the uniformity of size and particles is of key importance. Furthermore, characterization of microparticles is often difficult and time consuming, especially for the case of hyperelastic materials where more research is needed. In this experiment, ultra-soft monodispersed pNIPAM hydrogel particles were synthesized in a flow focusing microchannel reactor using emulsion drop technique. The microgels were then characterized by focusing them to a converging geometry microchannel to measure the deformation induced by shear flow. The elasticity of the microgel was evaluated from the images of deformed microgel with respect to time. The technique can also be implemented for characterization of soft tissues and blood cells, and/or other hyperelastic materials in a fluid induced shear flow.