Coating processes – With post-treatment of coating or coating material – Heating or drying
Patent
1985-01-14
1987-05-05
Hayes, Lorenzo B.
Coating processes
With post-treatment of coating or coating material
Heating or drying
106 35, 424 49, 4273885, 523118, 524765, 524767, B05D 302, A61C 500
Patent
active
046632026
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to the prevention and/or reduction of undesired adsorbed build up on surfaces exposed to aqueous environments, especially such as leads to colonisation by micro-organisms.
There are many surfaces exposed to aqueous environments which are susceptible to undesired adsorbed build up of e.g. protein and/or mucopolysaccharide, which can for example result in colonisation by micro-organisms. The surfaces which suffer from this kind of build up are diverse in character. They include the surfaces of teeth where the bacteria which colonise the teeth cause tooth decay. The hulls of ships and marine structures submerged in water become fouled by micro-organisms which colonise them. The micro-organisms for example tend to slow the progress of ships. Cooling towers and heat exchangers become covered with slime which forms as a result of micro-organism build-up and their efficiency is reduced. In food processing plant equipment can become fouled for example by adsorption of protein from process liquid. These are some examples of some surfaces which suffer from fouling. However there are many other industrial and medical applications, which also suffer from undesired build-up, and domestic applications for example bacterial colonisation in lavatories.
Vast sums of money ar spent each year by industry in the cleaning of fouled surfaces and often industrial processes have to be stopped during the cleaning operation. Bactericides may be added to processing liquids to reduce the occurrence of fouling but the use of bactericides is restricted both from an environmental point of view and according to the particular equipment being treated. Indeed in some cases where for example cleaning is not practical fouled equipment has simply to be discarded. Attempts to treat surfaces to stop the build-up and retain efficiency have so far proved unsuccessful.
When a surface is exposed to an aqueous environment containing biotic material, there is first adsorbed onto the surface a layer of e.g. protein and/or muco-polysaccharide from the surrounding fluid. This layer forms very quickly. Its structure and composition varies according to the particular surface concerned and the composition of the fluid to which the surface is exposed but it is not yet fully understood. It is to this first adsorbed layer that the micro-organisms attach themselves. The form of bonding between the micro-organisms and the adsorbed layer is not yet fully understood and may vary according to the composition and structure of the adsorbed layer. If there is no first adsorbed layer the micro-organisms will not become bonded and accordingly the surfaces will not become colonised by the micro-organisms with the disadvantages relating thereto.
In addition adsorption of e.g. protein from an aqueous environment can itself be disadvantageous when it is on to apparatus walls for example during protein preparation. Here it can result in protein losses from the system thus decreasing its efficiency.
Attempts to provide surfaces, in particular those of teeth, protected from micro-organism build up using single polymer systems comprising monomers for bonding to the tooth surface and monomer non-adsorbing, e.g. to protein from the saliva, to prevent formation of the first adsorbed layer, have generally proved impractical. This is believed to be because the polymer tends to be deposited on the tooth surface in a more or less random fashion and it can take at least several days, if not more, before there is any orientation of the polymer on the tooth surface such that the bonding groups attach to the teeth surface and sufficient numbers of the protein excluding non-adsorbing groups are exposed to the aqueous environment. Some improvement can be obtained in this way but really it is very slight. Further such lengths of time are of course impractical particularly for the treatment of teeth. Indeed it is often the case that proper orientation never occurs and thus the e.g. protein is not effectively excluded.
According to the present invention there is provide
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Hayes Lorenzo B.
National Research Development Corporation
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