Common plastic consumable materials in laboratories
There are various experimental consumables. In addition to glass consumables, the most commonly used are plastic consumables. So do you know what materials the plastic consumables used in daily life are made of? What are the characteristics? How to choose? Let‘s answer one by one as below.
The plastic consumables used in the laboratory are mainly pipette tips, centrifuge tubes, PCR plates, cell culture dishes/plates/bottles, cryovials, etc. Most of the pipette tips, PCR plates, cryovials and other consumables used are PP. Material (polypropylene), cell culture consumables are generally made of PS (polystyrene), cell culture flasks are made of PC (polycarbonate) or PETG (polyethylene terephthalate copolymer).
1. Polystyrene (PS)
It has good light transmittance and is non-toxic, with a light transmittance of 90%. It has good chemical resistance to aqueous solutions, but poor resistance to solvents. It has certain cost advantages compared to other plastics. High transparency and high hardness.
PS products are relatively brittle at room temperature and are prone to cracking or breaking when dropped. The continuous use temperature is about 60°C, and the maximum use temperature should not exceed 80°C. It cannot be sterilized by high temperature and high pressure at 121°C. You can choose electron beam sterilization or chemical sterilization.
Shandong Labio’s cell culture bottles, cell culture dishes, cell culture plates, and serological pipettes are all made of polystyrene (PS).
2. Polypropylene (PP)
The structure of polypropylene (PP) is similar to polyethylene (PE). It is a thermoplastic resin made from the polymerization of propylene. It is usually a translucent colorless solid, odorless and non-toxic. Its main advantage is that it can be used at high temperatures and pressures of 121°C. Sterilize.
Polypropylene (PP) has good mechanical properties and chemical resistance. It can withstand the corrosion of acids, alkalis, salt liquids and various organic solvents below 80°C. It has better rigidity, strength and heat resistance than polyethylene (PE). ; In terms of temperature resistance, PP is also higher than PE. Therefore, when you need light transmission or easy observation, or higher pressure resistance or temperature consumables, you can choose PP consumables.
3. Polycarbonate (PC)
It has good toughness and rigidity, is not easily broken, and has both heat resistance and radiation resistance. It meets the requirements of high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization and high-energy radiation processing in the biomedical field. Polycarbonate (PC) can often be seen in some consumables, such as freezing boxes and erlenmeyer flasks.
4. Polyethylene (PE)
A kind of thermoplastic resin, odorless, non-toxic, feels like wax, has excellent low temperature resistance (the lowest operating temperature can reach -100~-70°C), and easily softens at high temperatures. It has good chemical stability because the polymer molecules are connected through carbon-carbon single bonds and can resist the erosion of most acids and alkalis (not resistant to acids with oxidizing properties).
In summary, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) are the most common types of plastics in laboratories. When selecting consumables, you can usually choose these two if there are no special needs. If there are requirements for high temperature resistance and high temperature and high pressure sterilization, you can choose consumables made of polypropylene (PP); if you have requirements for low temperature performance, you can choose polyethylene (PE); and for cell culture consumables Most of them are made of polystyrene (PS).
Post time: Oct-30-2023