Preparation And Properties Of Acrylate Pressure-sensitive Adhesive For Protecting Ultrasound Probe

Ultrasound coupling gel,which is usually coated on the head of ultrasound probes,is applied during ultrasound examinations.It is necessary to clean the ultrasound probe after examination.The most common cleaning methods,such as paper towel cleaning,alcohol wiping,not only shorten the working time of ultrasound probes,but also might cause cross-infections between patients if any coupling gel is left on the probes.Currently,how to clean,disinfect or sterilize ultrasound probes effectively is also a tricky problem in the clinical application.In this essay,a kind of acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive(PSA)tape was designed for protecting ultrasound probe.Its character of ’easy to adhere and peel’ might be easily utilized for protecting ultrasound probes.Besides,viscoelastic acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive layer could replace ultrasound coupling gel,facilitating the process of cleaning or disinfecting probes.Obviously,adopting the way of adhesive tape is not only to protect ultrasound probes,but also to lower the rate of cross-infections between patients.The main works are shown as follows:(1)Three kinds of acrylate copolymer glues were prepared through solvent-free radical copolymerization using butyl acrylate,vinyl acetate,2-ethylhexyl acrylate and acrylic acid as comonomers,ethyl acetate as solvent,and benzoyl peroxide as initiator.The influence of the amount of solvent to molecular weight of acrylate copolymer and viscosity of glue was investigated.Results showed that molecular weight of acrylate copolymer and viscosity of glue decreased as the usage of solvent increased.(2)From materials’velocity,acoustic impedance and the hardness and applicability for pressure-sensitive adhesive substrate,four kinds of common membrane(PET,PE,PP,PU)were compared by the effect of application for the ultrasound probe as a barrier.Approximately 50 μm polyethylene film(PE)was selected as the optimal substrate used in the fabrication of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape/sheet to protect ultrasound probe as a barrier.(3)Acrylate PSA tapes/sheets were prepared by the transfer coating method utilizing PE film as the substrate and aluminum acetylacetonate as the crosslinker.The influence of molecular weights of acrylate copolymer to adhesive properties(tack,shear strength and 180° peel strength)of PSA was studied in detail.The results showed that as acrylate copolymer increased,the shear strength was improved while tack and 180°peel strength showed a downward trend.Besides,the shear strength of PSA also greatly was strengthened by the formation of a cross-linked network among polymer chains.(4)The applicability of acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes/sheets for protecting ultrasound probe were tested by two different ways(the silicone skin-like puncture model and a volunteer’s distal forearm).The grey value of ultrasonic images was calculated by Image J software through a silicone skin-like model and compared to that of original ultrasonic image.The influence of PSA tape fabricated by different molecular weights of acrylate copolymer and the amount of crosslinker(aluminum acetylacetonate)to the clarity of ultrasonic images and applicability for ultrasound probe was investigated.The results showed that the clarity of ultrasonic images was improved with the increase of molecular weight of acrylate copolymer and the addition of aluminum acetylacetonate into glues.In addition,PSA tape/sheet was easy to adhere and peel from ultrasound probe.During stimulated sonographic examinations,there were "without obvious slipping and detaching" behaviors between ultrasound probe and PSA tape after running forth and back for many times.Also,without adhesive residual left on the surface of ultrasound probe after adhesive tape peeled from ultrasound probe.(5)PSA tape fabricated by acrylate glues with different amount of acrylic acid was immersed in the AgN03 solution and NaBH4 solution separately,acquiring PSA tape contained Ag+and Ag nanoparticles(AgNPs).The influence of Ag+and AgNPs on adhesive properties of PSA tape and the clarity of ultrasonic images were initially investigated.The results showed that the influence of AgNPs to adhesive properties of PSA tapes and the clarity of ultrasonic images were worse than that of Ag+.