Flamed Titanium TiO2 Antimicrobial under regular room lights?

I'll be in the Wound Care Clinic on Tuesday. I'll ask the "Sawbones" about it...
(No: I'm not joking!)
 
Ti is more antimicrobial when artificially irradiated with UV light, but still maintains some level of antimicrobial properties under "normal" light (UVA/B).

TiO2 will naturally occur on Ti even without exposure to heat, so effectively all titanium has a surface layer of opaque oxidization. High heat simply allows the Ti to oxidize at an substantially increased rate, and the oxidization colors vary with the temperature of the heat applied.

Copper still exhibits the best antimicrobial properties of all the metals, however.

(I majored in chemical engineering. Don't ask me how I ended up as a LEO. It's a long, convoluted tale.....)
 
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shane45-1911 said:
Ti is more antimicrobial when artificially irradiated with UV light, but still maintains some level of antimicrobial properties under "normal" light (UVA/B).

TiO2 will naturally occur on Ti even without exposure to heat, so effectively all titanium has a surface layer of opaque oxidization. High heat simply allows the Ti to oxidize at an substantially increased rate, and the oxidization colors vary with the temperature of the heat applied.

Copper still exhibits the best antimicrobial properties of all the metals, however.

(I majored in chemical engineering. Don't ask me how I ended up as a LEO. It's a long, convoluted tale.....)
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Good info! Appreciate it. I bought some copper scales for my old Kershaw Skyline a couple weeks ago and am waiting to go get it from my parents house soon. Brass has some decent antimicrobial properties as well doesn't it?
 
LimpCroissant said:
Good info! Appreciate it. I bought some copper scales for my old Kershaw Skyline a couple weeks ago and am waiting to go get it from my parents house soon. Brass has some decent antimicrobial properties as well doesn't it?
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yes its 60% copper..but killing properties aren't instant takes many hours......studies show brass door knobs sell cleaned bacteria and such overnight basically.
 
jbmonkey said:
yes its 60% copper..but killing properties aren't instant takes many hours......studies show brass door knobs sell cleaned bacteria and such overnight bascially.
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Oh wow that's awesome a brass door knob will kill bacteria overnight. And I also didn't know that copper was 60% brass/40% zinc, that's cool info to know! I just found out that bronze is copper and 12% tin as well! I was curious what it was composed of.
 
LimpCroissant said:
Oh wow that's awesome a brass door knob will kill bacteria overnight. And I also didn't know that copper was 60% brass/40% zinc, that's cool info to know! I just found out that bronze is copper and 12% tin as well! I was curious what it was composed of.
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backwards...brass is copper and zinc. yep, bronze has copper and tin.

yes on door knobs and sink handles, but not if coated in a coated finish.....all used to be brass..but brass tarnishes from touching and humidity etc and gets ugly looking and people uneducated thought they were dirty lookin. so the stainless look came into play but without silver or copper based, the antimicrobial properties disappeared.....they had to be wiped with disinfectants to keep clean. since stainless didnt tarnish they looked clean...ironically.

on a knife handle touching it doesn't clean your hand and it has microbes on it. left to sit the disinfecting happens over time. also to note drier air doesn't work as well.....water plays a part more so in silver......but still some in copper based....
 
jbmonkey said:
backwards...brass is copper and zinc. yep, bronze has copper and tin.

yes on door knobs and sink handles, but not if coated in a coated finish.....all used to be brass..but brass tarnishes from touching and humidity etc and gets ugly looking and people uneducated thought they were dirty lookin. so the stainless look came into play but without silver or copper based, the antimicrobial properties disappeared.....they had to be wiped with disinfectants to keep clean. since stainless didnt tarnish they looked clean...ironically.

on a knife handle touching it doesn't clean your hand and it has microbes on it. left to sit the disinfecting happens over time. also to note drier air doesn't work as well.....water plays a part more so in silver......but still some in copper based....
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Oh yea sorry, I typed that wrong. Interesting stuff though. Then I suppose that means that your copper scaled knife would somewhat kill the bacteria on it while it sits overnight (maybe that's not quite enough time). However that doesn't do anything for the bacteria on your blade, liners, hardware and pivot.
Oh well, it's still enough to give me reason to buy both a brass and copper scaled knife! That's what I needed! Haha jk.
 
LimpCroissant said:
Good info! Appreciate it. I bought some copper scales for my old Kershaw Skyline a couple weeks ago and am waiting to go get it from my parents house soon. Brass has some decent antimicrobial properties as well doesn't it?
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I thought silver is the best.
 
In many cases it's less that the metals themselves are "killing" the bugs, though it does happen in some cases. In general though it prevents them from growing and keeps them from creating biofilm which is when they bond together and become voltron tough. They all have a different mode of action to a degree so it's not as simple as saying one is the "best" but silver is probably the most toxic to microbes but copper is a good balance, a big factor would be surface finish, oxidation and the ions being formed. Keep in mind that atmospheric oxygen and time are going to be doing most of the "killing" but that's far easier done if there are not many generations to kill off. Sadly I've yet to find much research that was adaptable to the real-world outside of very specific instances, so I'd be careful about being too confident in a material on its own. But dose matters so sometimes it can well be just a matter of percentage points between infection and not.
 
Copper and its alloys (bronze, brass), zinc, and silver are the most antimicrobial.

Although the germ-killing effects are not instantaneous as mentioned, the process can be greatly sped up by irradiating copper with UV light, or with water in the case of silver. Some studies have shown a 99 percent reduction in germs in as little as 2 hours with certain parameters (ie, high humidity levels, or increasing the surface area of the metal by laser etching).
 
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kobold said:
Some offgrid folks keep a silver coin in their rainwater collecting tanks, to keep it germ free. Also why silverware used to be silver.
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Perhaps a handful of copper pennies would work better?
 
I knew a sheet metal guy who built commercial kitchens. He would say that Stainless Steel is the filthiest metal he ever worked with. If he got cut on stainless it was guaranteed to give a nasty infection.

Copper counter tops would be interesting.
 
Copper countertops do exist, but they scratch and dent easily, as well as tarnishing and discoloring rapidly. You can seal a copper countertop to prevent the discoloration, but that negates the germ-killing properties.
 
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I kind of like the leathery brown color copper turns. But I enjoy the look of most natural patinas. I agree not the right material for countertops
 
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