Anti-viral Metal Coatings

铜具有众所周知的抗病毒特性，也被广泛用作硬币和门把手等日常物品的电镀涂层。然而，它容易受到腐蚀（失去光泽），出于美学原因需要高度维护，或者涂漆混淆其作为抗病毒表面的用途。Armadillo与皇家造币厂合作，开发了一种高性能、防腐蚀的“添加剂”技术，并获得专利，以增强当前的金属电镀工艺。在铜上已经实现了抗变色和抗腐蚀的证明，证明了使用这种技术在日常金属物品上创造实用，长寿命抗病毒表面的可能性。该项目将证明该技术作为抗病毒表面的有效性，最初是在测试样本上，后来是在硬币和门把手等实际金属物体上。作为第二阶段的一部分，该技术将专门针对抗CoronaVirus-19特性进行测试，并获得认证，并扩大规模以广泛采用。项目合作伙伴包括The皇家铸币厂，该公司不仅对硬币的抗病毒涂层感兴趣，而且还拥有电镀设施和专业知识，以扩大规模，以及UAP有限公司，一家为临床环境提供门家具的供应商，该公司也对抗病毒涂层感兴趣。

Copper has well known anti-viral properties and is also widely used as an electroplated coating for everyday items such as coins and door handles. However, it is susceptible to corrosion (tarnish) which requires high maintenance for aesthetic reasons or is lacquered obfuscating its use as an anti-viral surface. Armadillo, in co-operation with the Royal Mint, has developed and patented a high performance, anti-corrosion 'additive' technology to augment current metal plating processes. Proof of anti-tarnish and anti-corrosion has been achieved on copper, evidencing the possibility of using this technology to create practical, long-lived anti-viral surfaces on everyday metallic items. This project will prove the efficacy of the technology as an anti-viral surface, initially on test specimens but later on practical metallic objects such as coins and door handles. As part of Phase 2 the technology will be tested specifically for anti-CoronaVirus-19 properties, certified as such, and scaled up for widespread adoption. Project partners include The Royal Mint who not only have an interest in anti-viral coatings for coins but also have the electroplating facilities and expertise to electroplate at scale and UAP Ltd, a supplier of door furniture for clinical environments who again have an obvious interest in anti-viral coatings.