The Differences Between Nitrile, Latex and Vinyl gloves

24 Feb.,2024

 

Nitrile gloves, latex gloves and vinyl gloves are seamless type gloves. Here to show you their differences and when to use them. Compared to PE gloves, CPE gloves and tpe gloves such film seamed disposable gloves, seamless gloves have better protection, that’s why more people prefer to use them.

When each type of these three seamless gloves showed in front of you, you need to know what it is, it can help you to choose the right type and pay the fit price.

Color: they are different, Vinyl gloves are mainly clear or translucent blue, the clear color looks like a little white and milky, but also translucent. Nitrile gloves are mainly sky blue or purple, because most of the material are light blue. Latex gloves are mainly white, because the nature rubber are white. Maybe some special brand will have other colors such as black, pink, red, green, but they are very few.

Feeling: when you touch the gloves, you will feel the differences. Vinyl gloves are most hard and not good elongation, Nitrile gloves are mostly very soft and has very good elongation because they are very thin. Latex gloves usually has very good elongation and thick film feeling because normally the glove is more than 5.0 gram.

Nitrile gloves

Nitrile gloves, also known as nitrile rubber gloves, are made from butadiene (H2C=CH-CH=CH2) and acrylonitrile (H2C=CH-CN) by the emulsion polymerization method, mainly produced by low-temperature emulsion polymerization, and have the properties of both homopolymers.

Butadiene component gives the copolymer elasticity and cold resistance, acrylonitrile component has strong polarity, -CN group can make the copolymer with good chemical resistance, especially oil resistance (refers to alkane oil) is particularly good. Increasing the content of acrylonitrile in rubber can improve the oil resistance of rubber, but the elasticity and cold resistance will be reduced, and its products have good oil resistance, higher wear resistance and better heat resistance.

Nitrile gloves can be divided into two types: powdered and non-powdered. Powdered and non-powdered disposable nitrile gloves are widely used in food processing, homework, agriculture, medical and other industries. Purified disposable nitrile gloves are widely used in high-tech product installation and debugging, circuit board production lines, optical products, semiconductors, disc movers, composite materials, LCD display tables, precision electronic originals and instrument installation, laboratories, medical and other fields.

Advantages of Nitrile gloves

  1. Outstanding chemical resistance, anti certain acidity and alkalinity, provide good chemical protection against corrosive substances such as solvents and petroleum.
  2. Good physical properties, good resistance to tearing, puncture resistance, anti-friction properties.
  3. Comfortable style, according to the ergonomic design of the glove palm machine bending fingers to make wearing comfortable and conducive to blood circulation.
  4. Does not contain protein, amino compounds and other harmful substances, rarely produce allergies.
  5. Degradation time is short, easy to handle, favorable to environmental protection.
  6. No silicon component, with certain antistatic properties, suitable for the production needs of the electronics industry.
  7. Low chemical residues on the surface, low ionic content, small particle content, suitable for strict clean room environment.

Disadvantages of Nitrile Gloves

Hard material and more strict production requirement, high price, waste of energy.

Nitrile Gloves Production Process

Cleaning the hand models: Wash the residue and dirt from the ceramic hand models with soapy water and bleach, followed by thoroughly cleaning the hand mold with a rotating brush, rinsing it off with hot water and hanging it to dry.

Covering synthetic liquid: Immerse the hand mold into a container filled with nitrile liquid, heat it at high temperature oven, then dry it on the rotating models, to make sure the cooled down gloves’ film will not be uneven.

Glove crimping: A roller brush is used to rub the Nitrile glove to form the crimp. The rolled edge serves to facilitate the donning and doffing of the gloves.

Chlorine wash and polymer coating: After the nitrile gloves are made, they are chlorine washed or polymer coated, which is a key step to ensure that the gloves are easy to put on and take off. The chlorine wash makes the gloves softer and smoother; the polymer coating adheres to the gloves to make them more lubricated.

Peeling the glove: The glove is separated from the hand mold with an automatic peeling machine.

Latex Gloves

Latex gloves, also known as latex gloves, are gloves made of latex, a water-dispersion system of rubber particles, using natural latex, with other fine additives processed from latex gloves.

There are many kinds of latex gloves, according to the raw materials can be divided into five kinds of glossy latex gloves, linen latex gloves, striped latex gloves, lucent latex gloves and powder-free latex gloves; according to the use can be divided into disposable latex gloves, household latex gloves, industrial latex gloves, medical latex gloves four kinds.

Latex gloves are suitable for automobile manufacturing, battery manufacturing, fiberglass industry, aircraft assembly, aerospace field, environmental cleaning and cleaning.

Advantages of Latex Gloves

  1. 100% pure primary color latex, good elasticity and easy to wear.
  2. Comfortable to wear, no oxidizer and silicone oil, grease and salting.
  3. Strong tensile strength, puncture resistance, not easy to break.
  4. Superior anti-chemical performance, resistant to certain acidity and alkalinity, resistant to some organic solvents, such as acetone.
  5. Low chemical residues on the surface, low ionic content, low particle content, suitable for strict clean room environment.

Disadvantages of Latex Gloves

  1. Compared with the many advantages of latex gloves, its disadvantages are insignificant, latex gloves simply can not stop the oxidation process, oxidation is easy to cause glove’ surface film to shed off small odor pieces.
  2. Latex gloves production process is complex, high cost, so the price is more expensive, which is an important reason why latex gloves are not popular.
  3. Some people will be allergic to latex, so please confirm whether you are the type of people before buying. Because nature rubber has protein.

Latex Gloves Production Process

The latex rubber is first sliced by the rubber refiner, and then sent to the solubility tank to be mixed with gasoline for solubility. The molten rubber is then emulsified and modulated and sent to the emulsion intermediate tank by pump.

The rubber solution dissolved in gasoline is fed from the top of the distillation tower and distilled by steam heating, the light component gasoline is heated into gas phase, and the gasoline gas is mixed and cooled by cold water in the oil-gas cooler.

The oil-water mixture then goes to the oil-water separator, where the oil and water are stratified. The upper layer of gasoline is recovered, and the lower water is sent to the cooling tower by the water pump, and then the gasoline of the distillation tower is cooled; the emulsion of the distillation tower kettle is sent to the emulsion stirring cylinder according to its own pressure, stirred and modulated, and then to the centrifuge to separate the raw emulsion of gloves, and then after color mixing and filtering, it is ready for use.

The latex glove model is cleaned by acid and alkali, washed with water, and the cleaned model is dipped into hot water and heated until it is dipped in coagulant and dried for gum dipping. After dipping, the model is sent to the oven for preliminary drying, fiber inner sleeve is added, hot water is flushed and then sent to the oven for vulcanization and drying. After the glove is removed from the mold, it is checked by inflating, low temperature setting, medium temperature drying, washing, dewatering, drying and then packed and sent to the finished product warehouse.

Vinyl Gloves

Vinyl gloves are usually made of polyvinyl chloride material. They are widely used for labor protection and home hygiene in industries such as health inspection, food industry, chemical industry, electronics industry, pharmaceutical industry, paint and coating industry, printing and dyeing industry, agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry.

Advantages of Vinyl Gloves

  1. No latex protein and other allergic elements, safe and non-toxic.
  2. Good hand feeling, easy to wear.
  3. Adequate supply price is relatively stable.
  4. Stable quality.
  5. The cheapest seamless glove, most widely used all over the world. Most people use it in very common environment and work place, so vinyl glove is very most popular in all over the world.

Disadvantages of Disposable Vinyl Gloves

The glove is less flexible and cannot be exposed to organic solvents, making it unsuitable for use in environments with strict requirements for operational precision. It contain lots of plasticizers in it, so it’s not welcome in food contact industry, also because it don’t have good elongation and tensile performance, it can’t be used in medical operation purpose.

Vinyl Gloves Production Process

The main vinyl raw materials and auxiliaries are mixed into emulsion in a certain ratio in a special container, and after filtering, vacuuming and resting, the mixture is pumped into the impregnation tank in the production line.

Under normal production conditions, the hand moulds on the line automatically enter the impregnation tank, and the hand moulds with emulsion attached come out of the impregnation tank in turn, rotating continuously during the march to make the emulsion on the surface of the hand moulds uniform, and make the excess emulsion drip down.

The dripping liquid is returned to the impregnation tank through the collection tank. After dripping the excess emulsion, the hand mold moves with the production line into the oven, where the oven temperature is controlled at 230-250 degrees Celsius and the emulsion on the hand touch is cooked and formed under this condition. The hand moulds from the oven are naturally cooled, lip rolled and powdered, and then the gloves are manually removed from the hand moulds, which move continuously towards the impregnation tank. The unloaded vinyl gloves are dusted and stored as finished products.

Comparison of Nitrile and Latex gloves

Anti-allergenic

Latex gloves contain proteins, and are prone to allergic reactions for people who are prone to allergies. Nitrile gloves do not contain proteins, amino compounds and other harmful substances, and rarely produce allergies.

Degradability

Latex gloves and nitrile gloves are both degradable and easy to handle, which is good for the environment.

Puncture resistance

The toughness and abrasion resistance of latex gloves are slightly inferior to nitrile gloves. The puncture resistance of nitrile gloves is three to five times higher than latex. For dentists who need to use sharp tools, the use of durable nitrile gloves can create a safer barrier in the contact with patients.

Elasticity

Latex gloves are soft and abrasion resistant and have better elasticity than nitrile gloves.

Fitted to the hand

Because nitrile gloves contain butadiene monomers that enable them to be a flexible rubber, it allows the wearer to experience optimal tactile sensitivity. In addition, the fit in the hand is due to its good thermal conductivity, a property that provides excellent dexterity, which is particularly important for medical professionals or those who handle small parts or tools.

Price point

Normally, Latex is expensive than Nitrile, because the material price, and also the Latex glove is heavier than Nitrile gloves, mostly used in hospital medical operation. But now the Nitrile gloves are more expensive than latex products, because more and more people found it’s better than Latex when you use it, and will not cause allergy. After COVID-2019, i think this two kinds of disposable glove price will be same.

Color Nitrile material can be added pigments, the color is more vivid. It can relieve the patient’s tension.

In addition nitrile gloves have certain antistatic properties because of their silicone-free composition, low chemical residues on the surface, low ionic content and small particle content, and are suitable for strict clean room environments.

Comparison of Nitrile and Vinyl gloves

Material

Nitrile gloves are made of synthetic plastic, while vinyl gloves contain plasticizers, the former is biodegradable and conducive to environmental protection, the latter is susceptible to heat volatile harmful gases, non-biodegradable and polluting to the environment.

Fit hand shape

Nitrile gloves fit the hand better than vinyl gloves, because it is more soft, better elongation.

Puncture resistance

Nitrile gloves have strong puncture resistance, while vinyl gloves are very thin and easily cut, affecting the protective effect.

Price

The price of nitrile gloves is much higher than vinyl gloves.

Acid and alkali resistance

Nitrile gloves are resistant to strong acids and bases, while vinyl gloves are only resistant to weak acids and bases.

Stretching degree

Nitrile gloves have a strong stretch to prevent tearing when worn, vinyl gloves stretch poorly.

Comparison of latex and vinyl gloves

Material

Latex gloves are made of pure natural latex, while vinyl gloves are generally PVC, the former is biodegradable and conducive to environmental protection, the latter is susceptible to heat volatile harmful gases, non-degradable and polluting to the environment.

Anti-allergic

Latex gloves contain protein, for allergy-prone people, easy to produce allergic reactions. Vinyl gloves do not contain proteins and rarely produce allergies.

Appearance

Latex gloves have a natural latex component and are opaque. Vinyl gloves are relatively transparent.

Price

Latex gloves are significantly more expensive than vinyl gloves.

Characteristics

Latex gloves feature a unique fingertip texture design, greatly enhancing the grip and effectively prevent slippage, vinyl gloves do not have this design.

Choose the right gloves you want

No matter Vinyl gloves, Nitrile gloves or Latex gloves, even PE gloves, CPE gloves, TPE gloves, all types of disposable gloves are needed for all people, but for different purpose. So how to choose the right and most value gloves is what we need to teach you.

Fist of all, let’s see the price below

Vinyl Gloves Nitrile Gloves Latex Gloves TPE gloves CPE gloves PE gloves USD Price of 1000 pcs 10-20 20-30 25-35 7-11 4.5-7.5 1.5-3.0

Maybe now, you found the Nitrile gloves’ price is much higher than Latex and Vinyl ones, but it’s not reasonable, so it will come down in half a year in my mind.

In this form, you can find the cheapest PE gloves only USD 1.5 for 1000 pieces, only one tenth of Vinyl gloves, even one twentieth of Nitrile gloves. So need to know what we exactly need, if you have enough budget, of course please use Nitrile gloves in all purpose. But i don’t suggest you to do so, because we also need to protect earth environment.

Secondly, the purpose you will use them to do

Vinyl Gloves Nitrile Gloves Latex Gloves TPE gloves CPE gloves PE gloves Medical YES YES YES YES Food contact YES YES YES YES YES Daily work YES YES YES YES YES One-time YES YES YES

Choose the right gloves also can protect you and earth, we don’t need to choose the most expensive type all the time. For medical, of course the doctors and nursing need to choose the best gloves and also need to be sterilized before using.

The most important is whether you has allergy against these kinds of materials, if you has any allergy please take care to choose the Latex gloves, because it is easy to cause allergy. Nitrile gloves and all kinds of poly gloves even TPE gloves will not cause as usual.

Thirdly, what size you can use

Meet the standard EN 455-1, most gloves meet the following dimensions.

Each type of gloves has its unique advantages, and each person can choose which gloves to use according to their own requirements. We have the right channel to meet your purchase needs. Please contact us if you need.