Double polymer coating vs chlorination

FirstLine Gloves introduced the Double Polymer Coating / Non Chlorination process to the EMS glove market in 1998. Primary to FirstLine’s success in the glove industry, this revolutionary technology is now preferred nationwide for the many benefits it provides glove users.

History

Natural Latex Gloves are traditionally manufactured with a powder coating. This powder coating is to provide a lubricant for donning of the gloves as natural rubber is tacky in its unprocessed form. However, due to allergic reactions to both powder and latex, the industry introduced the Powder Free Latex Glove.

Initially, chlorination was the process by which a powder free finish was attained. However, glove utilization today has gone mobile, whereby use and storage parameters often involve exposure to heat and sun. In addition, storage at the transport and distribution levels also includes environmental exposure.

At this stage, double polymer coating, non chlorination was invented as an alternative to chlorination. It was quickly realized that many benefits can be attained by eliminating chlorine from the glove. Although more expensive, this process is quickly becoming the preferred process for both latex and nitrile gloves, due to the adverse environmental impact chlorination adds during transport, storage and user applications.

Benefits of Double Polymer Coated - Non Chlorination

Non chlorinating - double polymer coating a glove, eliminates the chlorination process while providing a powder free surface. Elimination of chlorination provides many benefits to both latex and nitrile gloves:

• Increased shelf life (FirstLine warrantees our products for 5 years from date of manufacture)
• Less breakage
• Less pinhole defects – improved watertight AQL’s
• Improved physical properties, including tensile and elongation
• Strength and durability retention
• Improved donning
• Cost savings
• Color retention

Tradition vs. Technology

Although many manufacturers will recommend traditional chlorination to lower protein levels, with claims of providing fewer allergic reactions, double polymer coated non chlorinated gloves today achieve “low in protein” processing in accordance with FDA guidelines, or less than 50 ug/g (micrograms per gram) of protein. Low in protein gloves provide dramatically reduced protein levels from years past, whereby powdered gloves containing 10,000 ug/g of protein were sold into the market place.

It is unknown at what level users are sensitized to latex proteins, however, statistics clearly show that with the introduction of “low in protein” gloves, the sensitization rate has dropped dramatically, to as little as what is thought to be 1%.

FDA Findings

The physical properties of a Powder Free Chlorinated Glove will be affected. Due to the oxidizing properties of chlorine, chlorinated gloves display lower tensile and elongation properties. Significant deterioration is especially seen in after ageing results. To quote an extract from the following report:
An FDA study of the effects of elevated temperature on the tensile strength of NRL gloves showed very dramatic results for powder-free examination gloves that are believed to have been chlorinated. Various styles of NRL gloves were placed in paper envelopes and oven-aged in air for 7, 14, and 21 days at 70º Celsius, and then subjected to tensile testing per ASTM D 412. (Accelerated aging in the laboratory at 70º C is common for NRL gloves, and is one of two recommended temperatures for aging of gloves in ASTM D 3577 and ASTM D 3578.) Five of seven powder-free styles exhibited dramatic decreases in tensile strength after just 7-14 days at 70º C, with total decreases in tensile strength ranging from 70% to over 90% at 21 days of aging. Although the details of the manufacture of these five styles are proprietary, it is believed that all were chlorinated. In contrast, almost half of the powdered gloves subject to the same conditions showed no statistically significant decrease in tensile strength, while the remaining powdered gloves decreased a moderate 10 to 25% by 21 days of exposure ⁽⁵⁹⁾. A progress report from an ongoing federal ­state contract study on NRL exam gloves recently indicated similar results: extreme degradation of chlorinated exam gloves observed after 14 to 21 days of aging at 70º C ⁽⁶⁰⁾.

Point of Reference

Most end users in their career can recollect the significant reductions in strength, color and feel that occurred when dispensing chlorinated gloves from a box. These changes may not necessarily have occurred during storage on their trucks. With some studies showing chlorinated gloves shelf life as minimal as 3 months, chances are these gloves were received at the end user site in this condition.

The benefits of purchasing gloves that do not contain chlorine, a known aggressive chemical, are evident in dramatic savings that many departments have realized, primarily due to reduced usage, increased end user confidence and the elimination of double gloving. 

Full Disclosure

To ensure a glove is manufactured utilizing "non chlorinated" processing, visit the manufacturer's website.  Simply stating a glove is polymer coated on the interior and exterior, does not indicate a fully polymer coated / non chlorinated technology is being utilized in the manfuacturing process.  If a glove is manufactured using NO chorination in the process, NO chlorination will be clearly stated.