The effect of pre-conditioning polished and unpolished AISI 304 stainless steel surfaces with glutaraldehyde on the attachment, growth and morphology of an aerobic consortium of marine bacteria was investigated using total cell number counts, epifluorescence microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) and grazing-angle Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Both fully hydrated and dehydrated biofilms were studied using AFM and ESEM. Formation of the conditioning layer on steel surfaces from the culture medium, in the presence and absence of glutaraldehyde was monitored in-situ employing AFM and Grazing Angle FTIR spectroscopy. The influence of both surface area and surface energy upon the numbers of bacteria attached to polished and unpolished coupons was determined.

This study has shown the influence of pretreatment of AISI 304 stainless steel with glutaraldehyde upon biofilm formation and has demonstrated the ability of AFM, ESEM and FTIR to be used as valuable tools for the in-sitv investigation of the effect of biocides on bacterial biofilms.

Subject
Steel surfaces, Water, Atomic force microscopy, Roughness, Surfaces, Biofilms, Fourier transform infrared spectrography, Bacteria, Glutaraldehyde, Steel, Maritime, Biocides, Stainless steel
Keywords:
atomic force microscopy, bacterial attachment, bacterial consortia, biocides, environmental scanning electron microscopy, glutaraldehyde, stainless steel, marine biofilms
© 1997 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1997
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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