Our vinyl gloves are an incredibly popular part of our range here at Unigloves. For over three decades, we&#;ve been manufacturing the highest quality vinyl gloves for our huge variety of customers.
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Despite the rising popularity of nitrile gloves, and the traditional preference for latex gloves in many industries, vinyl gloves have continued to be an integral part of our range due to the number of benefits they offer over other glove solutions.
If you&#;ve ever wondered what these benefits are, or &#;How are vinyl gloves made?&#;, this article will help to demystify the vinyl glove and help you choose the most appropriate vinyl glove for your application, every time.
How are vinyl gloves made?
Vinyl gloves are a completely synthetic glove (and hence, free from latex), and are made from the polymer material called polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. The material created through this process is hard and rigid, and so, in order to manufacture PVC into a more flexible material suitable for disposable safety gloves, a plasticiser is added after polymerisation.
Here at Unigloves, we go further than many manufacturers in our production of vinyl gloves, to help ensure that not only are they flexible, but that they are also comfortable to wear, durable, and help to protect wearers&#; hands against a range of hazards. Our unique manufacturing processes, and the fact that we use only high-quality materials in the production of our gloves, are what makes us one of Europe&#;s leading safety glove manufacturers.
As well as being one of the most affordable disposable safety glove options on the market, vinyl gloves offer a range of other important benefits over alternatives such as latex and nitrile gloves. Due to their relatively low cost, you&#;ll find vinyl gloves are popular not only in workplaces, but in-home and domestic applications all over the world.
As we&#;ve mentioned above, vinyl gloves are a completely synthetic disposable safety glove, and as such, are free from latex. This means they&#;re safe for use by those with latex allergies. In fact, the Health and Safety Executive of the United Kingdom recommends avoiding the use of latex gloves where at all possible, to protect the safety of workers and the general public. For this reason, vinyl gloves are becoming more popular in medical and healthcare applications.
Another benefit of vinyl gloves for those that suffer from sensitivities (such as Type I and Type IV sensitivity), is that they are also free from chemical accelerators. These types of accelerators are generally used in the production of nitrile gloves, which makes these types of gloves unsuitable for some hands. Therefore, vinyl gloves, being free from both latex and chemical accelerators, are a fantastic choice for those with sensitive hands, dermatitis, or latex allergies.
As vinyl gloves tend to be less robust than some other glove varieties, as well as being relatively cheap, they are often seen as a &#;budget&#; alternative. However, vinyl gloves are not only a cost-effective but incredibly versatile solution for a wide variety of applications.
Their inherent protective properties help to safeguard hands against a range of low-level hazards. These include, but are not limited to, protecting hands and wrists from bodily fluids, biohazards such as blood- and urine-borne pathogens, detergents and cleaning chemicals, paints, dyes and more.
Vinyl gloves from Unigloves are also available in medical grade varieties (medical gloves), and are food safe, which makes them suitable for a range of applications from medical examinations, and ensuring infection control, to processing and handling food. These properties make vinyl gloves a preferred choice in many industries, such as:
We hope this article has helped to answer the question, &#;How are vinyl gloves made&#; and shed some light on the many benefits of these cost-effective and versatile safety gloves. For more information about our vinyl gloves range, please take a look at our product guide, or get in touch with our team today.
What&#;s so interesting about how disposable gloves are made? Quite a lot, it seems.
We frequently get questions about what&#;s involved in making gloves. We&#;ve also published a few blog posts over the years describing the manufacturing process, and they&#;re always among our most popular.
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Thinking it might be handy to tie it all together in one, here goes with an easy-to-read summation of how the process works.
There are four primary materials used in making disposable gloves: nitrile butadiene rubber, natural rubber latex, polyvinyl chloride, and polyethylene. Various specialty gloves incorporate other materials, but those four cover everything that AMMEX sells.
On the production line
Latex is the oldest and most familiar material. In the glove world, it goes back to at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. William Stewart Halstead, the hospital&#;s first surgeon in chief, is credited with developing the first surgical glove. He petitioned the Goodyear Rubber Company to make gloves because his surgical team&#;s hands were irritated by the chemicals used.
Latex was the standard for the better part of a century, with disposable gloves becoming the norm in the s. Increased use of latex gloves, particularly during the AIDS crisis of the s, raised awareness of latex allergies and brought about the introduction of vinyl and nitrile gloves by the mid-s. Those two materials, which contain no plant proteins to cause allergic reactions, have largely supplanted latex, but it still has a devoted following in some uses.
Latex concentrate, the raw material used in manufacturing, comes from Hevea brasiliensis, also known as the Pará rubber tree. It originated in the Amazon rainforest and was introduced to Southeast Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in the s. Today most of the world&#;s natural rubber comes from plantations in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Rubber trees are usually ready to be tapped after about seven years of growth. Thin strips of bark are removed from the tree, which makes the milky-white sap run downward into a cup. After about six hours, the fluid stops, usually filling a gallon bucket.
Because of its high water and non-rubber content&#;about 70% is water, protein, sterol glycosides, resins, ash, and sugars&#;the latex is concentrated and stabilized. The latex is mixed with processing chemicals including sulfur, zinc oxide, accelerators, pigments, stabilizers, a de-webbing agent, and antioxidants. It matures for 24 to 36 hours to become ready for dipping.
The processes for creating 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.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) must be produced at a polymer production facility through the polymerization of vinyl chloride monomers. The raw PVC material then receives a plasticizer, making it soft and pliable; otherwise, the PVC would be rigid, as it is when used to form pipe. It is then sent to a glove production facility.
Once the synthetic materials are prepared, they are added to the production process. With a few exceptions&#;primarily involving washing and chlorination to remove latex proteins&#;this process is mostly the same as the steps for manufacturing latex gloves.
The last steps of the cycle include testing the gloves, then boxing and shipping them. You can read more about the testing process in our recent post, Acceptable Quality Level Determines If a Glove Is Industrial or Exam Grade.
Polyethylene is the most affordable glove material and is used primarily in the food service industry.
It is a polymer that is synthesized from ethylene and a thermoplastic that is formed into various shapes as it cools from a liquid state to a solid state.
Two polyethylene sheets are seamed and sealed with heat to create disposable gloves. Because poly gloves are not dipped like latex, nitrile and vinyl gloves, they are not impervious to liquids. Vinyl gloves are a suitable alternative for food services tasks where liquids are present.
Happy Holidays from everyone at AMMEX!
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