Protective elements in antimicrobial plastics

Plastics play a crucial role in the ongoing war against dirt, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens and unclean substances that can cause serious harm — and even death. Plastic polymers infused with protective elements are frequently utilised in the composition of products designed to protect against potentially dangerous contamination.

In this area, Plastics Color Corporation has developed a powerful antimicrobial technology called MicroBlok® to help protect consumers against the harmful germs and microorganisms that lurk everywhere. Suitable for various applications in a host of industries, MicroBlok® is most commonly used in appliances, medical devices, and other consumer contact applications. MicroBlok works by impeding and inhibiting the growth of bacteria on treated surfaces, significantly reducing stains, odours, and product deterioration. It has been tested rigorously under ISO 22196:2011, which measures the growth of bacteria within a 24-hour period on plastic substrates.

Another company, Parx Plastics has developed a method to incorporate highly effective antimicrobial property into plastics without making use of any harmful substances or affecting the original characteristics of the material.   

Adding antimicrobial properties
Plastics Color offers two types of MicroBlok technology: silver based (MicroBlok S®) and zinc based (MicroBlok Z®). The antimicrobial technologies incorporated in the product are engineered and integrated into resin during the compounding process to form a masterbatch, eliminating the need for secondary mixing steps for the manufacturer. Using MicroBlok is a safe, controlled way to manufacture microbe-fighting products that don't require additional material modifications by the manufacturer as MicroBlok arrives ready-to-use, right out of the shipping containers.

Silver ions added into the chemical composition of MicroBlok S are dispersed uniformly throughout the polymer matrix. These silver ions create large internal-specific surfaces within the polymer, resulting in extremely efficient antimicrobial properties.

Stable at any temperature, MicroBlok S embedded products are custom-blended into an extensive variety of resins. While MicroBlok S can be used in any resin, the most common usage is in thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene (PE). It is appropriate for virtually any moulding or extrusion application and can be custom-formulated for special manufacturing processes.

Plastic Color's other antimicrobial product is MicroBlok Z, a zinc compound whose anti-fungal effect comes from its ability to disrupt membrane transport by blocking the proton pump that energises a pathogen's transport mechanism. This creates an exceptionally high efficiency antimicrobial action. The zinc compounds within MicroBlok Z are not eliminated during the inhibition process, so the antimicrobial effect of MicroBlok Z is not reduced over time. MicroBlok Z is stable below 240°C, so appropriate resins for MicroBlok Z include those with lower melting temperatures, such as thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), TPU, and olefins.

Products incorporating MicroBlok can inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi, molds, yeasts, and other microbes. Designed for tenacity, it is an ideal inhibitor for use in products subject to high humidity like kitchen and bath environments, as well as outdoor applications including furniture and decking. Additional product uses include sponges, bath mats, wire and cable insulation, plastic gloves, scrub brushes, construction, and footwear.

While beneficial in many market sectors, MicroBlok's antimicrobial properties make it a natural fit for medical applications and products used in hospitals, laboratories, compounding facilities, and similar environments that demand cleanliness. Because of its ability to help prevent unwanted microbial growth on treated surfaces, MicroBlok is regularly used in medical devices and packaging, surgical tools, and implants. With the increase of microbes, the need for innovative ammunition in the ongoing antimicrobial battle makes MicroBlok a wise choice.

Both MicroBlok S and Z can be incorporated into customised colour concentrates to create a colour and additive package. This provides an opportunity to manufacturers to merge their additive needs and colour needs into one vehicle, a masterbatch, for single-step integration in their manufacturing process. The Plastics Color team can assist customers in determining which of these antimicrobial technologies is most appropriate for their individual product needs and how to best colour the end application.
 
Fighting antibiotic resistance the right way
Parx Plastics has finished it verification tests on different grades of acrylics (PMMA) and adds them to the portfolio of antimicrobial concentrates. These thermoplastics are used for the production of sheets that are lightweight and shatter-resistant which are ideal to be formed into shapes for hospital beds.

This new material brings the Parx technology into areas where antimicrobial resistance is a topic of discussion.  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to the ability of micro-organisms to withstand antimicrobial treatments. The overuse or misuse of antibiotics has been linked to the emergence and spread of micro-organisms which are resistant to them, rendering treatment ineffective and posing a serious risk to public health.

The technology developed by Parx Plastics stands out in this discussion as the technology is derived from how nature is dealing with bacteria. Over four years of dedicated biomimetic research has been invested to create a 100% safe and biocompatible technology to inhibit the growth of bacteria on the surface of plastic with the use of a biomimetic approach in the design and engineering of the materials. The discoveries and inventions done during this research are truly unique and groundbreaking. A team of 11 professors, scientists and researchers with decades of experience in the field of Nano- and biotechnologies and skilled in chemical, chemical-physical and microbial analyses have been working together with a renown European university for chemistry. The result is a worldwide-patented innovation for plastics with a highly effective antibacterial/antimicrobial effectiveness rate of up to 99%. A technique copied from nature and most of all safe.

The method to incorporate this highly effective antimicrobial property into plastics is not making use of any harmful substances, it is not touching the original characteristics of the material, and it is not migrating. So there are no substances leaching from the materials. The plastic is incorporated with a biocompatible solution to make the material and the surface of the object produced more resistant to the attack by microbes and bacteria. The development and proliferation of bacteria on the surface of the object are slowed down and the microbes and bacteria count is being strongly reduced up to 99% measured according to ISO22196.

The antimicrobial property is merely due to the (changed) mechanical/physical properties of the surface and not due to migration. Bacteria cannot develop and proliferate on the surface of the material and there are no toxins or biocides involved to which antimicrobial resistance can be build up.