Comparison of polyurethane and acrylic polymer coating characteristics in medical surgical gloves

With the beginning of the production of surgical gloves, only powder coating was used.Powder is initially used to ease donning of the latex gloves whose surface is usually tacky if not treated. The production of powder-free examination glovesemerged in the late 1980s. The powder-free gloves were produced mainly via the chlorination process. Since 1999, Malaysian manufacturers have embarkedin mass production of polymer-coated, powder-free examination gloves.The polymer selected for polymer coating of rubber gloves must adhere well to the rubber film and provide good wet and dry donning properties and du-rability. It must be able to stretch as much as the rubber film and when it breaks it will not dislodge but still stick on the rubber film. Initially, the polymerused on the donning side of medical gloves was mainly polyurethanes which are generally more expensive and more difficult to process than acrylics. Later,the coating surface could either be blends of acrylics and polyurethane or acrylics alone.