In this work, a copper coating is developed on a carbon steel substrate by exploiting the superwetting properties of liquid copper. We characterize the surface morphology, chemical composition, roughness, wettability, ability to release a copper ion from surfaces, and antibacterial efficacy (against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus). The coating shows a dense microstructure and good adhesion, with thicknesses of approximately 20–40 µm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that the coated surface structure is composed of Cu, Cu2O, and CuO. The surface roughness and contact angle measurements suggest that the copper coating is rougher and more hydrophobic than the substrate. Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) measurements reveal a dissolution of copper ions in chloride-containing environments. The antibacterial test shows that the copper coating achieves a 99.99% reduction of E. coli and S. aureus. This study suggests that the characteristics of the copper-coated surface, including the chemical composition, high surface roughness, good wettability, and ability for copper ion release, may result in surfaces with antibacterial properties.
Since high social demands have been focused on detoxification as well as recycling of industrial wastes, the role of melting furnaces for wastes has been highlighted these days. However, due to scattering of compositions of components in industrial wastes, we are required to operate melting furnaces stably and to elucidate adequate operating conditions even for some compounds which are difficult to be melted under usual operations. In the present paper, we investigated 1) phase equilibria by thermodynamic databases, and 2) fluidity of molten slag for several compounds provided in melting furnaces. Then, we found that beneficial information was available on composition and temperature ranges of molten slag by thermodynamic investigation, which could provide useful guide to melt even asbestos and high-melting point compounds.
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