Testing of Beeswax Printing Technology in the Design of a Paper-Based Microfluidic System

The development of additive manufacturing technologies has the advantage of producing more economical and efficient products. This trend is supported by the fact that this technology is extensively developed, so that it has easy platforms to use, vast applications, and is more economically affordable than it was when it was first created in the early 90s. Currently, this technology is also widely applied in the bioengineering field to produce so called micro-scale products. In this study, a beeswax printer was developed by modifying a universal 3D printer to apply beeswax as a microchannel part on paper. Ultimately, this application shall be used for paper lab-on-a-chip (LOC) that enables us to perform specific functions, such as biological detection. However, a thorough study is needed to understand the limitations of this beeswax printer, along with the characterization of its product. Here, an experiment was conducted to find the optimum conditions of the system with two main parameters, namely the heating characteristics and flowability of the molten beeswax during the printing process. Additionally, an analytical model was also developed to validate the phenomena of this advanced printing media. Briefly, the beeswax printer allowed us to have a fine profile in the range of 0.5–2.0 mm wide and 30–150 μm thick. This research allowed us to find the desired profile of printed beeswax.