Recently, collaborated with a stainless steel production plant, Prof. YANG Ke’s research team of Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), successfully made a 40 tons scale production of type 304 Cu-bearing antibacterial stainless steel by optimal designs of melting and processing. Antibacterial stainless steel sheets with width of 1200mm and different thickness of 0.4-2.5mm were produced. These antibacterial stainless steel sheets possess satisfied mechanical properties and showed excellent antibacterial performance under the inspection of Institute of Physical and Chemical Technology, CAS. In addition, they meet the state regulation on bio-safety for metal ions release and cytotoxicity under the inspection of Institute for Food & Drug Inspection of China.
As the increase of living levels, people are more expecting to live in a clean environment, especially those working environments required high cleanness, such as hospitals, pharmacy, food processing, kitchens, etc..The emergence of antibacterial stainless steels can meet the antibacterial requirement in daily environment, which has great application potentials.
Prof. YANG Ke’s team was the first to develop series Cu-bearing antibacterial stainless steels with austenitic, ferritic, martensitic and dual-phase structures in China, which possess double characteristics of structural material and functional material, and not only can be used as the normal corrosion-resistant materials, but also have self-cleaning function of strong antibacterial ability.
The success of industrial scale production of antibacterial stainless steel indicates that this novel class of steels is ready for large scale applications. Currently, several manufacturers are cooperating with IMR to develop different antibacterial stainless products, including sinks, air conditioning trays, tablewares, washing machine drums, surgery devices, orthopedic implants, etc..With more and more antibacterial stainless steel products entering the market, both social and economic profits will be achieved.
304-Cu Antibacterial Stainless Steel Coil
