Core77

Alasept: An Antibacterial Coating for Stainless Steel

By Rain Noe - April 9, 2014

in Materials | Medical

Your correspondent was recently laid up for four days with the flu, an inevitability in an urban world where one must touch subway turnstiles, doorknobs and handrails used by millions. And while germ-spreading is a mere inconvenience for your average healthy blogger, it's a potentially deadly problem for heathcare environments.

Recognizing this, and reasoning that a fair amount of their fixtures are going into medical facilities, fixtures manufacturer Häfele has addressed the problem by developing Alasept, an antibacterial and antiviral coating that they can use to coat stainless steel fittings. Doorknobs, window handles and furniture components can be treated with Alasept, which not only prevents the adhesion of the germs, but actively kills off what bugs do stick to the material. The Alasept coating is extremely hard and scratch resistant and works around the clock. It is not reduced by impact or by wear from finger rings. The fittings can be easily and quickly cleaned with commercially available acid-free cleaning products.

These coated fittings are particularly suitable for use in hygiene-sensitive areas such as hospitals, doctors' offices and nursing homes, but also in public institutions, schools or hotels—anyplace that large numbers of people and the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens may be particularly prevalent.

Healthcare designers involved in creating new facilities can of course spec the stuff out for new construction, but Häfele is also counting on retrofitting to be a big part of the business. For more information on the stuff, a downloadable PDF is available here.

Spotted at Holz-Handwerk.

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db

10 years ago

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Another bogus anti-microbial claim.

Notice they never claim it will reduce the transfer of pathogens to humans. They dance around it and imply it, but they never make the direct claim. Why? Because they can't. Its all marketing BS and core77 shouldn't give them the time of day.

From Hafele's .pdf brochure -
"which very efficiently protects this hardware from being affected by bacteria"

The "hardware" doesn't get affected by bacteria. Well duh.
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Berkana

10 years ago

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A while ago, you guys had an article on how "nickel silver" looks just like stainless steel, but being 80% copper and 20% nickel, had the potent biostatic/antimicrobial qualities of copper and copper alloys:

http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/infectious_ideas_using_antimicrobial_copper_alloys_in_hospitals_by_alice_ro__16508.asp

Is this coating basically a plating of nickel silver? I have a hard time imagining anything that would do what they claim their coating does besides copper or silver, or their alloys.

I have become wary of any synthetic antibacterial coatings; the latest news on Triclosan and triclosan based coatings is that they end up polluting the environment and are endocrine hormone disruptors.
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