Properties of Polypropylene/Antibacterial Glass Composites

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP)/antibacterial glass composites were prepared by melt blending PP and silver-doped glass. The antibacterial activity of the PP composites was examined by the method of plate counting, and the crystallization behaviors of pure PP and antibacterial glass/PP composites were compared via hot-stage polarized optical microscopy (POM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results revealed that the antibacterial PP composites had effective antibacterial activity with antibacterial rates more than 90%. The antibacterial agent in the antibacterial glass/PP composites acted as nucleating agents, increasing the crystallization temperature and crystallization rate of PP, but not changing the crystalline modification of PP. The mechanical properties of antibacterial glass/PP composites were also studied, and the results showed that the antibacterial glass improved the stiffness and modulus but decreased the notched impact strength of the PP composites.

Keywords:

• antibacterial glass
• crystallization
• mechanical properties
• polypropylene
• polypropylene composite

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Special Projects for Nanotechnology of Shanghai (1052nm00700, 0952nm0310), the Science and Technology Project of Minhang District in Shanghai (2010mh043, 2009mh189), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21071098).