Development of Antibacterial Polymer Based Nanocomposite Materials

Abstract

Human beings are often infected by microorganisms such as bacterium, mold, yeast, virus, etc. in the living environment. It became a requirement and a necessity to create sterile fields in areas. Composite stones are one of the main materials that can be used for the contact surfaces in indoor and outdoor places due to their being of highly resistant to abrasives, chemicals and impacts. Research has been intensive in antibacterial material containing various inorganic substances. The aim of this thesis is investigating the antibacterial effect of inorganic substances such as silver, zinc oxide, calcium oxide, titanium oxide and magnesium oxide on stone products. This study also deals with the silver doped zinc oxide powder and their antibacterial efficacies. Stone product is formed of mainly two type compound which are quartz aggregates as reinforced and filler and thermoset polyester resin as matrix. The manufacturing process begins with selection of raw quartz materials. They are crushed and blended in the ratio of 90 % quartz aggregates to 10% polyester matrix and other additives such as antibacterial agent, pigment. These united constituents are used for production of composite stones by applying those combined vacuum, vibration and pressing processes which are named as vibropress, simultaneously. Following it, they are subjected to surface preparation and polishing processes. In this study, mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of the particles, polyester matrix and stone product were investigated. Antibacterial efficacies of these were investigated based on colony-count method against gram negative (E.coli) and gram positive (Bacillus subtilis) bacteria. Silver-containing stone samples showed best antibacterial property about ninety-nine percent reduction.