How can I tell the difference between an antimicrobial plastic and a standard one?
In almost all cases, an antimicrobial plastic will be visually indiscernible from the same material without the antimicrobial. This can lead to confusion, particularly if a product is available in both antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial versions. In these instances, it can be useful to further modify the antimicrobial plastic with a means of visual detection.
While it isn’t possible to easily detect the antimicrobial additive itself, by blending the additive with a detectable material or taggant, it is possible to create a material that can be identified easily with relatively inexpensive equipment.
The most economical approach is to blend the antimicrobial with an optical brightener, which enables identification with a cheap UV light. This usually works best with light coloured plastics, but we have a particularly powerful brightener formulation that allows even black antimicrobial plastics to be easily differentiated from a non-antimicrobial.
While an optical brightener is a cheap and effective option, some customers prefer a laser detectable additive, such as “anti-stokes” or “up-conversion” phosphor taggants. These are inorganic phosphor compounds that convert lower energy light (e.g. infrared) into higher energy, visible light. The ‘detector’ would typically be a low cost laser pen with a wavelength of 950-980nm.
Both optical brighteners and anti-stokes phosphor additives provide a quick and easy visual confirmation, but it’s important to note that it is purely qualitative (i.e. yes/no). Quantitative detection is theoretically possible but in most practical applications our experience suggest that the accuracy is inadequate for a meaningful result.
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READ MOREHow long does an antimicrobial additive keep killing germs/bacteria?
The length of time for which antimicrobial materials remain active will depend on a number of considerations, including the type of antimicrobial additive, the material into which it is incorporated and environmental conditions.
Probably the most important consideration for the longevity of antimicrobial effect is the selection of the antimicrobial additive itself. Some are designed to remain active for many years, often exceeding the likely usable lifespan of the product in which they’re used, whereas others are engineered to deliver extremely high levels of performance over short periods, ideal for products that are highly susceptible to microbial contamination but have a very short functional life.
It is also important to consider the environment in which the antimicrobial plastic will be used. Some antimicrobial additives perform best in warm, humid conditions and their efficacy will be notably diminished in a cold, dry environment. Others can be significantly compromised by organic surface contamination.
Even if a particular antimicrobial additive has typically good longevity, this can be compromised by the material in which it is used. It is not unusual to see adverse interactions between an antimicrobial additive and polymers, coatings and resin systems. Sometime these interactions manifest as a change to the physical properties, such as colour or impact strength, but in many cases the interaction is a detrimental effect on antimicrobial performance. In some cases, this can be relatively insignificant, but in others it is possible for the antimicrobial properties to be entirely negated. It’s worth noting that even apparently similar materials can exhibit interactions at both ends of the scale. By way of example, incorporating the same antimicrobial additive, at the same concentration, into two different of ABS, even from the same manufacturer, can result in one material that performs extremely well and another with barely any discernible antimicrobial properties.
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READ MOREDoes Radical offer anti-viral plastics or coatings?
It is possible to modify a polymer or a coating so that the surface will deactivate viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. However, the mechanisms by which this occurs are debatable and there seems to be both a lack of understanding and a great deal of misinformation. Furthermore, in many countries the regulatory requirements for anti-viral claims make most applications cost prohibitive.
For these reasons, Radical does not typically offer anti-viral solutions, although we are happy to assist with research & development in this field.
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