Coronavirus copper plate door handles

A. Hi Marty. Obviously I'm no virology expert and can't say what percentage of copper is needed to produce the results you quote. For all I know 5% might do it or 99+% might be required.

But some copper roof paint has a lot of copper in it. One brand says it has 2 pounds of real copper flakes per gallon, which is about 25% copper so I think that might do at least something.

Nothing wrong with you using the Jax you have on hand if you can, but that's the rub. To my understanding it is not a paint but an immersion/replacement solution along the lines of the blue copper sulphate ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] solutions we watched deposit copper onto iron nails in science class. It can only work by reacting with the metal of the door handles in question, which can only happen if
1. all paint, clearcoats, lacquers, etc., are removed from the metal; and
2. the metal of the handle causes the immersion/replacement reaction to occur; stainless steel won't, chrome won't, aluminum won't, nickel may or may not; zinc, steel, and brass probably will. But again, whether the pure copper of the plating solution is more effective than the copper in the alloys (brass & bronze) is something I wouldn't know. Good luck.

Regards,

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A. Hi Richard. First, we need to determine the actual requirement to achieve the reputed benefits of a surface on which Covid-19 can't survive; you may already know the answer, but I have no clue. It could be that the surface must be 5% pure copper or 25%, 75% or 95%+. Because the thing is: painting a door knob with copper-bearing paint is drop dead easy; but doing copper electroplating on it can be anywhere from moderately difficult to extremely difficult depending on the material of the substrate, its condition, what coatings are currently on it, etc. If you saw copper plating in high school science class, remember that everything was carefully chosen to make it easy for a demonstration; real-world doorknobs and robust plating that won't all come off on the first hand that touches is can be hard to achieve.

Regards,

3-D Printers on eBay or Amazon (affil links) Books on 3-D Printing on eBay or AbeBooks or Amazon (affil links) A. Recently I came across a ref where someone claims to deposit copper by modified 3-D printing process "The price of coating a standard office door handle is about A$50-A$100 ($33-$65), says Kennedy, although costs will fall over time." (https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/copper-coronavirus-study-1675845-2020-05-08) I think it would be more economical to fit new copper coated handles. PVD processes can provide excellent coatings and have the usual advantage of being environmental friendly compared to electrolytic processes. H.R. Prabhakara - Consultant Bangalore Plasmatek - Bangalore Karnataka India A. Hi Richard Sounds like a good idea but ... Copper is well known to have anti-bacterial properties but covid 19 is a virus not a bacterium. I have seen no reports that it is susceptible to copper and it is such a recent outbreak that it is unlikely that the research has been done. I'm afraid that copper paint is unlikely to be effective. The flakes of copper are embedded in and covered by the polymer base of the paint so little metal is exposed on the surface. Copper would be a poor finish for a door handle as it tarnishes so easily. The simple answer is to simply fit brass handles. They are always supplied with a clear lacquer finish that you would have to remove and you would need a good supply of brass polish to keep them looking acceptable. Bronze is best overall but difficult to find. But if you balance the overall risk involved in changing the door furniture against simply social distancing and hand washing I doubt you would find it worth the effort. Geoff Smith Hampshire, England