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The generation of wear‐resistant antimicrobial stainless steel surfaces by active screen plasma alloying with N and nanocrystalline Ag
Author(s) -
Dong Yangchun,
Li Xiaoying,
Sammons Rachel,
Dong Hanshan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part b: applied biomaterials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1552-4981
pISSN - 1552-4973
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.b.31573
Subject(s) - nanocrystalline material , materials science , metallurgy , wear resistance , surface roughness , microstructure , surface finish , phase (matter) , antimicrobial , nanocrystal , composite material , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , biology
Hospital‐acquired infections (HAIs), a large proportion of which are derived from contact transmission, represent a massive global challenge. In this study a novel active screen plasma (ASP) alloying technology has been developed to generate highly durable antimicrobial surfaces by combining a wear‐resistant S‐phase with nanocrystalline silver for medical grade stainless steel. The phase constituent, microstructure, composition and surface roughness of the alloyed surfaces were fully characterized, and the surface hardness, wear resistance and antimicrobial efficiency of the treated surfaces were evaluated. Experimental results showed that the surface hardness and sliding wear resistance of medical grade 316LVM stainless steel can be effectively improved by the ASP alloying treatment; furthermore, the Ag alloyed S‐phase can achieve 93% reduction in Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) after 6 h contact time. Therefore, the novel ASP alloying treatment can not only improve wear resistance but also confer antibacterial activity to stainless steel surfaces. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res PartB: Appl Biomater, 2010