The MFMET II project started in 2025 and aims to contribute to the development of globally accepted metrology standards for microfluidic devices used in biomedical, pharmaceutical and chemical industry. The project is an international collaboration between 9 metrology institutes, 6 research institutes and 4 companies and is a continuation of the previous MFMET project which contributed to several standardization activities within ISO/TC 48/WG 3 Microfluidic Devices.

Key objectives

1. Establishing standardized procedures to measure properties of microfluidic devices, including e.g. shear stress, pressure drop, flow resistivity, sorption and biocompatibility.
2. Developing protocols for the integration of sensors, actuators and fluidic components and materials characterization.
3. Defining general standards and guidelines for quality control, validation, and characterization regarding microfluidic system reliability/failure by developing harmonized metrological specifications to test burst pressure, bonding strength, connector reliability and general safety precautions.
4. Design and characterize a microfluidic prototype setup with integrated sensors and actuators. This setup will serve as a metrological transfer standard for qualification and validation.

Ultimately, the work should lead to microfluidic devices with improved reliability and performance, better interoperability and standardization across suppliers, and reduced lifecycle cost.