Avaliação da eficácia da esterilização de materiais poliméricos expostos ao óxido de etileno.

Abstract

The increase in population logenvidade triggered a growing race in the discovery of new materials to rebuild or improve homeostasis so that did not promote organic reactions immunologic, this new group of materials are known as biomaterials, this new class of materials have a direct or indirect interaction with more differentiated tissues of the body due to this characteristic they must present a potential for microbial transmission zero, for it must go through a sterilization process is compatible with every type of material, is polymeric, ceramic or metal. The present study observed the sterilization by ethylene oxide 3-polymeric materials (HDPE, PVC, PP) in 3 different sterilization cycles used in the manufacture biomaterial for Medical Industry Brazil located in Recife. To this end we used the methods of characterization, FTIR, Surface Tension, microbiological testing and scanning electron microscopy respectively. The results were as follows, as the wettability HDPE and PP showed an increase in contact angle while the angle decreased in PVC, microbiological characterization confirmed that actually occurred in 3 cycles since the death microbial characterization by infrared observe the formation of peaks and bands at 1585 cm -1 and 3000 cm-1 on the surface of the polymer. The results suggest that under the conditions used, 3 sterilization cycles do not alter the properties of the product to those made with HDPE and PP, but suggest a restriction for materials made of PVC.