Effect of gamma irradiation on three kinds of disposable medical protective clothing

Abstract

The post-radiation effect of three kinds of disposable medical protective clothing made of polyethylene terephthalate/polyurethane (PET/PU), polypropylene/polyethylene (PP/PE), and polyethylene (PE) after radiation sterilization and the effects of radiation on the properties of protective clothing were investigated. The changes in surface morphology, hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, and free radicals of medical protective clothing materials after radiation sterilization were systematically studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, and by examining the surface contact angle and tensile properties at break. The results showed that the surface morphology of protective clothing made of PET/PU, PP/PE, and PE undergoes no obvious change after γ-ray irradiation. However, the hydrophobicity of the surfaces—whose contact angles were reduced by 2.8%, 7.9%, and 17.8%, respectively—decreased. γ-ray irradiation has little effect on the tensile properties of PET/PU at the sterilizing dose (≤ 50 kGy). On the other hand, the tensile breaking strength and elongation at break of PP/PE and PE protective clothing decreased with the increasing absorbed doses. The signal intensity of free radicals produced by PP/PE and PE protective clothing increased with the absorbed dose and the concentration of free radicals decreased rapidly with the storage time and tended to stabilize after one month.

Keywords

• disposable medical protective clothing
• radiation sterilization
• mechanical properties
• free radicals