In the last few years, microfluidics has come into its own as a process and also a micro-manufacturing technology. The methodology is rapidly changing many diverse fields from Point-of-Care diagnostics to cancer research, environmental studies to Organs-on-a-Chip, drug discovery to micro fuel cells, and much more. By using a small drop of fluid, microfluidics speeds…
One of the main reasons Potomac relocated to the BWTech@UMBC South Technology Park was to access the talent being cultivated at one of the country’s leading STEM education universities. While recently grabbing basketball headlines, the University of Maryland Baltimore County is better known for its commitment to training scientists and engineers and we are lucky…
Nearly one year ago, the fashion brand, 828 Movement, LLC was formed with one mission in mind; assist struggling urban area schools by donating 15% of the product proceeds to benefit education equality in the US. This new line of bracelets was developed to pay tribute to the past efforts for equality, stand by the…
The recent 2018 RAPID + TCT conference and trade show demonstrated a wide range of new machines for rapid prototyping with emphasis on additive manufacturing. Many new 3D Printing machines were launched, with particular emphasis on materials especially in the metals category. While these new technologies open up capabilities for new product manufacturing, one talk…
The word “light” has many definitions; the foremost being, “something that makes vision possible.” Arguably, second to that, would be, “electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength that travels in a vacuum with a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second; specifically: such radiation that is visible to the human eye.”[1] Today, one might find any number of ways…
SME’s RAPID Conference and trade show clearly has its finger on the pulse of additive manufacturing. In the last few years we’ve seen exponential 3D Printing developments that are driving advanced manufacturing in the Biotech, microfluidics, microelectronics, consumer products and medical fields. At Potomac, 3D Printing is an integral tool on our factory floor….
Potomac has spent many years developing and optimizing laser cutting and drilling of silicon wafers for a broad range of applications. In this article we examine this unique material. Swedish chemist Baron John Jacob Berzelius first isolated Silicon in 1824. The shimmering blue and gray element is as fascinating as it is plentiful: it is…
It is one for the record books. The UMBC’s men’s basketball team came into the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championships ranked #16. But that didn’t stop them from using grit, determination, hard work and passion to be the first team playing in March Madness and beat #1 seed University of Virginia by an astonishing…
We live in such an inspiring time, when technology is transforming access to new areas of collaboration and research. Once such example of open access in the area of microfluidics is MIT’s new Metafluidics.org website, a free repository of designs for lab-on-a-chip devices. Designs can be submitted by anyone ranging from trained scientists and engineers…
Potomac is continually developing new capabilities in order to give our customers the best solution for tough micro manufacturing problems. Driven by customer requests, our senior technical lead Natalia Christensen has developed novel laser welding processes for plastics that expands fabrication options when joining microfluidic devices, medical devices and other small products. Laser welding of…
