Antibacterial Properties Of Cu-bearing 430 Ferritic Stainless Steel

With the enhancement of health awareness,the development of antibacterial materials has received more and more attention.Antibacterial stainless steel,as a new material with dual characteristics of structure and function,has also been emerged.Especially,ferritic stainless steel with excellent performance and low cost,and its economy is incomparable to that of austenitic stainless steel.In addition,the addition of copper can also endow it good antibacterial performance and broaden its application.However,the antibacterial mechanism of antibacterial stainless steel is still controversial and further research is needed.In this paper,three 430 ferritic stainless steels with different copper content were studied from two aspects of biology and material by means of bacteria inactivation.The results of electrochemical and antibacterial experiments show that the increase of Cu content can simultaneously improve the corrosion resistance and the antibacterial performance of 430 stainless steel.In addition,E.coli can be rapidly inactivated on430-Cu stainless steel surface by dry inoculation method,and this result was further confirmed by SEM and live/dead staining results.XPS aids with ion chelation experiments show that Cu(I)plays a more important role than Cu(II)because Cu(I)promotes the generation of more reactive oxygen species in the contact sterilization process.In addition,the effect of 430-Cu stainless steel on delaying food spoilage was investigated by simulating food storage conditions.The results show that 430-Cu stainless steel can effectively inhibit the spoilage rate of food,thus prolongs the food preservation period,and provides a theoretical basis for the application of copper bearing ferritic antibacterial stainless steel in the field of food preservation,which is helpful to promote the development and practical application of Cu-bearing antibacterial stainless steel.