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Stability of a‐C :H: SiO x coating on polypropylene to chemical sterilization
Author(s) -
Grenadyorov Alexander S.,
Solovyev Аndrey А.,
Malashchenko Vladimir V.,
Khlusov Igor A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.49570
Subject(s) - sterilization (economics) , coating , materials science , biocompatibility , chemical engineering , polypropylene , ethylene oxide , scanning electron microscope , chemical stability , thermal stability , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , chemical resistance , polymer , composite material , copolymer , monetary economics , economics , foreign exchange market , metallurgy , engineering , foreign exchange
Polypropylene (PP) is traditionally used in the production of medical devices, such as catheters, dialyzers, syringes due to its good chemical and thermal resistance, biocompatibility, and low cost. Sterilization can however damage these devices, when the polymer additive releases into physiological fluids, thereby harming the patient health. This article proposes to deposit biocompatible a‐C:H:SiO x coatings onto PP surfaces and studies the coating stability after chemical sterilization. Five different chemical sterilizers, namely, hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, miramistin, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide are used to compare their effect on the coating stability on the PP substrate. Untreated and sterilized samples are incubated in a liquid synthetic nutrient to obtain extracts that are used for sterility testing and determining the degree of interaction of samples with the nutrient medium. The changes in the coating functional groups and surface morphology are examined by using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the scanning electron microscopy, respectively. It is shown that the a‐C:H:SiO x coating has a protective effect on the PP substrates subjected to chemical sterilization. The experiment results clearly showed that the ethanol sterilization causes the most serious changes in the structure of PP, and also leads to the barrier coating failure. On the other hand, ethylene oxide sterilization has a minimal effect on the structure of both uncoated and coated PP substrates.