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In the rubber gloves manufacturing process conventional titration is used to determine the content of an active component present in the different dipping stations (baths). Loss of drying is also used in one of the post-processing steps to assess the amount of dissolved polymer used for coating. A Malaysian multinational has undertaken an initiative to complement these measurements with the use of a refractometer.
The refractometry approach, when applied, offers the following advantages:
- At-line: The instrument can be conveniently placed close to the concerned bath. Direct liquid suction from the bath is also possible even in a bypass form.
- Fast: No sample preparation or dilution is needed. The sample is measured "as it is" and the measurement time is reduced (e.g., compared to loss on drying).
- Chemical–free: No reagents or chemical reactions are involved in the analysis, thus no additional waste is produced.
- Simple operation: Calibration curve calculations are built-in the instrumentation as an additional calculation.
Refractometers were installed at different stages of the rubber gloves manufacturing lines to determine the concentration of dipping baths solutions.
In this white paper you will learn more about the rubber gloves manufacturing process:
- The steps of the manufacturing process
- Quality control
- Results and discussions of this new approach
Here is an example of the tolerance limit check of calcium nitrate content (% w/w). The image shows automatic verification for the quality control process.
Left screen: result within limits (indicated in green).
Right screen: result out of limits (indicated in red).
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