With the rapid development of the economy, people’s living standards continue to improve. The comfort, health, and safety of the living environment have become more and more important. Therefore, materials with antimicrobial properties are of great interest, such as antimicrobial plastics, antimicrobial fibers, antimicrobial ceramics, antimicrobial metal materials, etc., They are widely used in home appliances, building materials, decorative materials, textiles, clothing, kitchenware, sanitary ware, and other fields.
The core component of antimicrobial plastic is the antimicrobial agent. A very small amount of antimicrobial agent is added to polymer materials to make them antimicrobial. The corresponding products also have the function of hygiene self-cleaning, which reduces the use of polymer products and cross-contamination.
The dispersion of the antimicrobial agent in the plastic and the compatibility with the plastic is the key to the preparation of antimicrobial plastic. The antibacterial plastic production process is complex. The plastic should keep its original performance and have an antibacterial function at the same time. The commonly used antibacterial plastic preparation methods are directly added method, antibacterial masterbatch method, surface adhesion method, lamination method and post-processing method.
1. Directly added method
Directly added method is to add the antimicrobial agent to the plastic raw materials through physical ways. The antimicrobial agent is fully mixed with other material and then go through the molding process to prepare the corresponding antimicrobial plastic products.
Direct addition method is simple to operate. The amount of antimicrobial agent added can be precisely controlled. But the disadvantage is that the dispersion of the antimicrobial agent in the plastic substrate is influenced by different materials and processing craft. Often the antimicrobial agent agglomerate in the plastic substrate, leading to poor dispersion performance, so the antimicrobial performance is influenced.
2. antimicrobial agent masterbatch method
In order to avoid the problem of poor microscopic dispersion in the antimicrobial products prepared by the direct addition method, the antimicrobial agent masterbatch can be prepared by twin-screw extruder extrusion.
As the antimicrobial agent and carrier resin are sheared and kneaded by twin-screw in the process of preparing masterbatch, the dispersion of antimicrobial agent in antimicrobial products is much better than the direct addition method. The antimicrobial masterbatch is granule form, so there is no dust flying in the molding operation, which reduces the pollution in the production process.
Therefore, the antimicrobial agent masterbatch method to prepare antimicrobial products has become the most important production method of antimicrobial products.
3. Surface adhesion method
The surface adhesion method is to spray the antimicrobial agent on the surface of the product molding mold, and the antimicrobial agent adheres to the surface of the product to form an antimicrobial product during the injection.
This method can reduce the use of the antimicrobial agent, but the application is narrow, only in the mold of plastic products used.
4. Lamination method
The lamination method is to prepare the antimicrobial agent and plastic into antimicrobial flakes, and the flakes are laminated on the surface of the plastic products to be treated, and hot pressed into the required antimicrobial products in the lamination equipment.
5. Post-processing treatment method
The post-processing treatment method is to treat the surface of the plastic parts after they are prepared. The methods used are the surface spraying method and the vacuum sputtering surface spraying method. The antimicrobial agent can be attached to the surface of plastic products. The processing equipment costs of this method are high, which is a block for large-scale applications.
