How are vinyl gloves manufactured?

17 Jun.,2024

 

How Are Vinyl Gloves Made? - Sunline Supply

Vinyl gloves consist of a synthetic material, which has some properties of latex or rubber but does not trigger allergies in the same way. Vinyl gloves also do not rely on the global supply of rubber, a natural material. This aspect can make them more affordable.

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SUNLINE Supply has various gloves for medical settings, food services, janitorial work and other uses. We are careful to source our personal protective equipment only from trusted manufacturers, and we ship directly to you.

What Are Vinyl Gloves Made From?

Vinyl gloves contain polyvinyl chloride (PVC) monomers. PVC consists of vinyl chloride or chloroethylene, which itself can be made by using a copper catalyst to react ethylene with oxygen. When vinyl chloride is subjected to free-radical initiators, chemists can create PVC. PVC is a highly versatile material and can be made into hard surfaces, such as pipes, and soft items like coated fabrics.

To make gloves, the synthetic substance PVC is processed, and a plasticizer chemical is added to make the vinyl flexible. Polyvinyl chloride is an inexpensive material, and the process for making vinyl gloves is simple. These qualities allow vinyl gloves to be affordable, making them the ideal solution for any setting where frequent glove changes are needed.

How Do You Make Vinyl Gloves?

The manufacturing process of vinyl gloves begins with hand-shaped molds. These molds are cleaned so there is no debris on them from the previous batch of gloves. Then, they are dried and coated in calcium carbonate and calcium nitrate to help the PVC adhere to the molds. The molds are dried again and then dipped in a vat of liquid PVC.

The thin layer of PVC is then allowed to dry before the gloves are removed from the molds, usually by hand. Additional treatments may be needed to coat the gloves or stamp them with a logo.

How Vinyl Gloves Are Tested

Since vinyl gloves are used in medical settings, they are carefully tested according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ATSM) standards. In one test, gloves are filled with water and allowed to hang upside down for two minutes to see whether there are any leaks. Each batch of gloves must go through such tests. Additionally, medical-grade gloves must undergo more tests than industrial-grade versions.

Manufacturers are given acceptable quality limits (AQLs). These percentages indicate how many gloves must pass the test. If the AQL for an application or specified use is 2%, for example, a batch of gloves must have less than 2% of gloves fail to pass this quality standard.

Once the tests are complete, manufacturers must package the gloves or have them placed in packaging materials for sale and transport.

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Buying quality vinyl gloves is simple with SUNLINE Supply. We have a range of gloves and PPE for every application, from medical use to industrial plants and more. Order quickly online and have your purchase shipped directly to you. Simply browse our offerings today to start.

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How Nitrile and Vinyl Gloves are Made

Unlike latex gloves, nitrile and vinyl gloves are not made from natural rubber. These gloves come from synthetic materials, but the manufacturing process is essentially the same as latex glove production.

Neither nitrile nor vinyl gloves will aggravate sensitivities to latex, and are largely replacing latex gloves in most applications, especially food service and medical use.

Here is an overview of how manufacturers create these gloves:

Creating the synthetic materials

The processes for creating the nitrile and vinyl materials is similar. The nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) used for nitrile gloves is a copolymer, which is a substance derived from the bonding of molecules. In the case of NBR, the two parts are butadiene and acrylonitrile, which chemists combine using a process known as copolymerization.

These molecules provide specific advantages for the gloves: Acrylonitrile enhances the chemical resistance, while butadiene creates flexibility and tear resistance. Nitrile has three times the puncture resistance of latex as well as greater chemical resistance.

Vinyl gloves come from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) monomers alone. Because chemists use only one type of monomer to create PVC, the material is known as a polymer. Once they have polymerized the substance, the chemists add a plasticizer to the PVC. This makes the material flexible; otherwise, the PVC would be rigid, as it is when used to form pipe.

PVC is inexpensive to create, making it a cost-effective alternative to latex. It is a popular choice for applications involving frequent glove changes, especially food service, jan/san, and salon & beauty.

Producing the gloves

Once the synthetic materials are prepared, they are added to the production process. With a few exceptions, this process is mostly the same as the steps for manufacturing latex gloves:

  • The manufacturing equipment first runs ceramic, hand-shaped formers through water and bleach to clean them and remove any residue. The formers then dry and are dipped in a mixture of calcium carbonate and calcium nitrate, which helps the synthetic materials coagulate around the formers. Then the formers dry again.
  • Machinery dips the formers into tanks of NBR or PVC. The following step involves heating the materials at a high temperature to form the gloves as they dry.
  • To help nitrile gloves go on more easily, they undergo one of two processes: chlorination or polymer coating. Chlorination involves exposing the gloves to chlorine&#;as an acid mixture or gas&#;to harden the material and make it more slick. Polymer coating lubricates the glove surface by adding a layer of polymer.
  • Finally, in what is known as the stripping phase, blasts of air remove the gloves from the formers.

Checking for quality

The last steps of the manufacturing cycle include testing the gloves and shipping them.

The quality control process, based on standards from the American Society for Testing and Materials (ATSM) and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), includes the pinhole leak test. While all gloves have some pinholes, this test tells manufacturers whether a glove has enough pinholes to lead to a noticeable leak.

After filling the gloves with 1 liter of water, the workers hang them upside down for two minutes to see if the gloves can hold the water. Exam-grade gloves must pass more stringent standards than industrial-grade gloves, which must meet basic quality tests but not the higher standards for exam gloves.

These tests adhere to acceptable quality limits (AQLs), which are percentages indicating how many gloves in a batch must fail the test to determine if the entire batch fails.

The final step is for workers to package the gloves. Then, the gloves ship from manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia via ocean freight to their final destinations.

For more White Nitrile Exam Disposable Gloveinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.