Polyolefin Microfiber Based Antibacterial Fibrous Membrane by Forced Assembly Coextrusion

Abstract

There is a burgeoning demand for polyolefin based fibrous membranes with antibacterial properties due to the increasing awareness about recyclable materials for air and water purification. This paper presents a systematic study on the development of dual component, polypropylene (PP), and high density polyethylene (HDPE) fibrous membranes based on a continuous coextrusion and multiplication manufacturing technique. Chlorhexidine dihydrochloride (CHDH), an organic low molecular weight antibacterial additive, is melt‐compounded to impart antibacterial characteristics to the fibrous membranes. The PP/HDPE membranes are hydrophobic and possess 77% porosity, whereas inclusion of CHDH increases the porosity to 91% and the surface area increases almost twofold. In addition, the membranes possess a mean flow pore size of 7 μm. ATR‐FTIR study on the PP/CHDH/HDPE membranes indicate the presence of CHDH on the fiber surface, which imparts antibacterial character to the membrane. Investigations carried out on the CHDH containing PP/HDPE fibrous membranes using E. Coli indicate that the presence of CHDH on the fiber surface results in a bacterial growth inhibition zone on solid growth media. In addition, quantitative studies result in the complete reduction of colony forming units after 4 h of contact time.

Electromechanical deformation and failure of multilayered films

“…1,9 The forced assembly multilayer coextrusion process enables many polymeric systems having unique architectures to be produced including multilayer films, 10 cellular film/foam materials, [11][12][13][14] and fibrous membrane systems. 9,[15][16][17][18] In addition, there has been numerous studies on the multilayered coextruded polymer systems directed toward applications including gas barrier films, 8,19 optical films, 20 shape memory films, [21][22][23][24] packaging film/foams, 25 fibrous membranes for filtration, 18,26 antibacterial membranes, 27,28 cellular membranes having through pores 12 and multilayer films with unique dielectric properties. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] These investigations have emphasized the importance of scale within the multilayer films relative to enhanced performance characteristics.…”

Alkaline Battery Separators with High Electrolyte Absorption from Forced Assembly Coextruded Composite Tapes

“…For the PP/ PA6/PS system, the orientation condition was based on our previous work. 22,23 The effect of orientation upon the tapes at high temperature was evaluated by comparing the WAXD pattern of the tape before and after orientation.…”

“…For the PP/HDPE system, the highest draw ratios reaching temperatures of 110, 120, and 130 °C were 16, 19, and 20, respectively. For the PP/PA6/PS system, the orientation condition was based on our previous work. , The effect of orientation upon the tapes at high temperature was evaluated by comparing the WAXD pattern of the tape before and after orientation.…”

“…The orientation temperature was selected to be above the glass transition temperature of PS at 102 °C and just below the melting temperature of one of the fiber domains. Based on a previous study, , 130 °C was determined as the best orientation temperature for both the PP/HDPE/PS and the PP/PA6/PS fibrous tapes. The orientation temperature of the PP/HDPE/PS and PP/PA6/PS tapes was illustrated in the differential scanning calorimetry thermograph in Figure .…”

Unveiling the Effects of In Situ Layer–Layer Interfacial Reaction in Multilayer Polymer Films via Multilayered Assembly: From Microlayers to Nanolayers

“…This process was originally developed by Dow Chemical in the 1970s to industrially produce iridescent films, and has been extensively studied worldwide over the past 20 years. [ 3,4,6–8 ] Multilayer films obtained from this technique demonstrate highly tunable mechanical, [ 9,10 ] electrical/dielectric, [ 11,12 ] optical, [ 13 ] gas/water barrier, [ 2 ] and shape memory properties, [ 14,15 ] arising mainly from the layer–layer interface effect. [ 3,12 ]…”