How Nitrile And Vinyl Gloves Are Made

Like the latex gloves, the nitrile and vinyl gloves are not of the same material as the natural rubber. These gloves' beauty is that they come from synthetic materials, but the processing method is the same as the latex gloves. The nitrile and vinyl replace the latex gloves and are largely used in the foodservice and medical industry.

Creating The Synthetic Materials:

Both the gloves have a similar manufacturing process. The nitrile butadiene rubber is used for the nitrile ones, which is a copolymer and is made from the bonding of the molecules. On the other hand, these two-part butadiene and acrylonitrile are combined through a process known as copolymerization. These molecules bring various advantages to the gloves, like improving the chemical resistance of the gloves, making them more flexible and tear-resistant. On the other side, nitrile holds an image of being more puncture-resistant and powerful compared to the latex one and having a greater chemical resistance. If we talk about vinyl gloves, they come from the polyvinyl chloride monomers alone. As many Medical Gloves Production Line China suppliers use one type of monomer to make PVC; thus, the material is called a polymer. As soon as they polymerized the substance, the chemists added a plasticizer to the PVC. This makes the glove material more flexible otherwise, it could become hard just like a PVC pipe. PVC is a cheap material to use comparatively to latex and is an eminent choice for people using gloves frequently, like in the food and medical industry.

Producing The Gloves:

The production gets started as soon as the synthetic materials are prepared. Apart from a few processes, the steps are just the same as the latex gloves. The first thing to do is remove any residue, and for that, the manufacturing equipment first runs ceramic, hand-shaped formers through water and bleach. Then the synthetic materials form a semi-solid or solid shape when the formers are dipped in a mixture of calcium carbonate and calcium nitrate and then dried out. The formers are dipped in a tank of NBR or PVC. To make the form of gloves, the material is heated at high temperatures and then dried to shape it. There are two types of processes that nitrile gloves go through, first is the chlorination, which is exposing the gloves to the chlorine as an acid mixture to make it harder and slicker. In contrast, the second process is the polymer coating which lubricates the glove surface and is also known as the stripping phase, which removes the gloves immediately due to air.

Checking For Quality:

The final steps in the manufacturing cycle include testing and shipping gloves. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ATSM) standards regulate the quality control process regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including pinhole leak testing. All gloves have some pinholes, but this test tells the manufacturer if there are enough pinholes to cause noticeable leaks in the gloves. After filling the glove with 1 liter of water, the worker turns the glove upside down and hangs it for 2 minutes to see if the glove holds water. Test gloves must meet stricter standards than industrial gloves that must pass basic quality tests but must not pass the higher standards of test gloves. These tests comply with the Acceptable Quality Limit (AQL). This is a percentage that indicates that the number of gloves in the batch does not need to pass the test to determine if the entire batch has failed. The final step is for the worker to pack the gloves. The gloves are then shipped by sea from the Southeast Asian manufacturing facility to their final destination.