Laboratory consumables vary widely and include items such as pipette tips, centrifuge tubes, PCR plates, cell culture products, and cryogenic vials. These plastic materials each have distinct characteristics, and their physical and chemical properties vary significantly. Therefore, material selection is particularly important when purchasing these products. Do you know what characteristics each material possesses? Today, let's explore these mysteries together.
PS material is a colorless and transparent thermoplastic plastic with high hardness, gloss, and transparency. Therefore, it is commonly used to make cell culture-related laboratory consumables.
PS material has good chemical resistance to aqueous solutions and can be processed into various shapes through injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, and other methods.
Baroque cell culture flasks, culture dishes, culture plates, and serum pipettes are all made of PS material.
PP material can withstand the corrosion of many common chemicals and solvents, and it is safe and non-toxic. Its excellent high-temperature and high-pressure resistance characteristics allow it to be sterilized at 121℃ under high temperature and pressure.
Meanwhile, through advanced modified processing technology, PP material can maintain good strength and toughness in low-temperature liquid nitrogen environments. This makes it highly favored in the biomedical field, especially for some laboratory consumables requiring long-term low-temperature storage, such as Baroque centrifuge tubes, PCR tubes, cryogenic vials, and some cryogenic boxes, which extensively use this high-performance PP material.
PC material has good transparency and hardness, with excellent impact resistance. It can be sterilized at high temperatures but is not resistant to strong acids, alkalis, or some organic solvents like alcohol. Baroque PC cryogenic boxes use polycarbonate (PC) material.
PE material is a safe and non-toxic opaque material with good heat and cold resistance. It can maintain stable performance at relatively high or low temperatures and is not easily deformed or broken (the lowest usable temperature can reach -100~-70°C).
Baroque cell scrapers/spatulas, pipettes, and some Drosophila bottles are made of polyethylene (PE) material.
HDPE material is non-toxic and odorless, with excellent strength and toughness that can withstand significant pressure and impact. It is not easily broken or deformed and has good resistance to most chemical substances, making it not easily corroded or dissolved, such as Baroque HDPE material reagent bottles.
Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) are undoubtedly the most common materials in the laboratory. If there are no specific experimental requirements, these two are often the first choice. However, if the experimental conditions require higher temperature resistance or high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization, then polypropylene (PP) material is the best choice. If low-temperature performance is required, polyethylene (PE) material can be selected.
Cell culture-related laboratory consumables mostly use polystyrene (PS) material, providing a stable and suitable environment for cell growth.
