Antibacterial stainless steel

Pharmaceutical Microbiology

Researchers, based at the University of Birmingham led by Hanshan Dong, Professor of Surface Engineering , in a project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council have created an antibacterial stainless steel. The material has been created by adding silver or copper can be introduced into the surface of steel surface. This is different from the traditional method of coating the surface. The alloy was created using a technology called Active Screen Plasma (ASP) with a purpose designed composite or hybrid metal screen. The combined sputtering, back-deposition and diffusion allows the introduction of silver into a stainless steel surface, along with nitrogen and carbon. The silver acts as the bacteria killing agent and the nitrogen and carbon make the stainless steel much harder and durable.The result is a surface, which can be applied to hospitals, the food industry and to cleanrooms, which has effective biocidal properties and is very hard and resistant to wear and tear during cleaning.