Microfluidics has proven to be an extraordinary working platform to mimic and study blood flow phenomena and the dynamics of components of the human microcirculatory system. However, the use of real blood increases the complexity to perform these kinds of in vitro blood experiments due to diverse problems such as coagulation, sample storage, and handling problems. For this reason, interest in the development of fluids with rheological properties similar to those of real blood has grown over the last years. The inclusion of microparticles in blood analogue fluids is essential to reproduce multiphase effects taking place in a microcirculatory system, such as the cell-free layer (CFL) and Fähraeus–Lindqvist effect. In this review, we summarize the progress made in the last twenty years. Size, shape, mechanical properties, and even biological functionalities of microparticles produced/used to mimic red blood cells (RBCs) are critically exposed and analyzed. The methods developed to fabricate these RBC templates are also shown. The dynamic flow/rheology of blood particulate analogue fluids proposed in the literature (with different particle concentrations, in most of the cases, relatively low) is shown and discussed in-depth. Although there have been many advances, the development of a reliable blood particulate analogue fluid, with around 45% by volume of microparticles, continues to be a big challenge.

The first droplet produced by a low-conductivity pendant/sessile droplet subject to a strong electric field is particularly important at the fundamental level because, in contrast to steady electrospray phenomena, its ejection entails complex charge relaxation and electrokinetic processes. Besides, it is technologically relevant because of its very small diameter and large electric charge per unit volume. In this work, we present an experimental technique to measure with unprecedented accuracy the diameter of the droplet and to determine for the first time its electric charge. We discuss both the advantages of our technique over possible alternatives and the limitations of the method. The proposed method is applied to two alcohols with electrical conductivities of the order of a few μS/m. The high sensitivity of our experimental technique allows us to determine the influence of both the magnitude and the polarity of the applied voltage on the size and charge of the ejected droplet. The electric charge of the first-emitted droplet lies in the interval $0.51\lesssim q/q_R\lesssim 0.66$ (q_R is the Rayleigh limit of charge) for the two liquids analyzed. These experimental values are slightly larger than those obtained from theoretical predictions. The value of $q/q_R$ for the first droplet is very relevant because it can be regarded as an upper bound of those of the droplets subsequently emitted in the cone-jet mode of electrospray.

In this work, we explore two methods to simultaneously measure the electroosmotic mobility in microchannels and the electrophoretic mobility of micron-sized tracer particles. The first method is based on imposing a pulsed electric field, which allows to isolate electrophoresis and electroosmosis at the startup and shutdown of the pulse, respectively. In the second method, a sinusoidal electric field is generated and the mobilities are found by minimizing the difference between the measured velocity of tracer particles and the velocity computed from an analytical expression. Both methods produced consistent results using polydimethylsiloxane microchannels and polystyrene micro-particles, provided that the temporal resolution of the particle tracking velocimetry technique used to compute the velocity of the tracer particles is fast enough to resolve the diffusion time-scale based on the characteristic channel length scale. Additionally, we present results with the pulse method for viscoelastic fluids, which show a more complex transient response with significant velocity overshoots and undershoots after the start and the end of the applied electric pulse, respectively.

This work introduces a novel design of a fixture to be adapted to the commercial version of the capillary breakup extensional rheometer (CaBER), here termed as an extensional magneto-rheological fixture (ExMRFx), that allows the characterization of magnetic fluids under uniaxial extensional flow. The fixture consists of four solenoids that generate a homogeneous magnetic field with a tunable intensity on the fluid sample, while characterized in the CaBER under uniaxial extensional flow. The ExMRFx is designed in two configurations, one to impose a magnetic field parallel, while the other to impose a magnetic field perpendicular to the deformation axis. As an example of possible application, the ExMRFx has been tested with a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) consisting of a suspension of carbonyl iron particles dispersed in glycerine. The experimental results show that the filament thinning process of the MRF sample is influenced by the concentration of carbonyl iron particles used, the orientation of the magnetic field (parallel or perpendicular), the intensity of the magnetic field applied, and finally the Hencky strain imposed. Depending on the combination of these latter parameters, the MRF sample may result in a very stable filament bridging the two measuring plates, which will remain stable, as long as none of the experimental parameters change.This work introduces a novel design of a fixture to be adapted to the commercial version of the capillary breakup extensional rheometer (CaBER), here termed as an extensional magneto-rheological fixture (ExMRFx), that allows the characterization of magnetic fluids under uniaxial extensional flow. The fixture consists of four solenoids that generate a homogeneous magnetic field with a tunable intensity on the fluid sample, while characterized in the CaBER under uniaxial extensional flow. The ExMRFx is designed in two configurations, one to impose a magnetic field parallel, while the other to impose a magnetic field perpendicular to the deformation axis. As an example of possible application, the ExMRFx has been tested with a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) consisting of a suspension of carbonyl iron particles dispersed in glycerine. The experimental results show that the filament thinning process of the MRF sample is influenced by the concentration of carbonyl iron particles used, the orientation of the mag...