Tribological characteristics of medical gloves in contact with human skin and skin equivalents

Abstract

The progress in new surface modification techniques towards the manufacture of tailored latex articles is faced with the requirement of new characterization techniques to determine the tribological properties of elastomer surfaces. Thus, the present study aims at the characterization of friction properties of commercially available medical gloves to assess their donning performance. The experimental design of the friction test method involves a linear movement of the glove sample across selected counterpart materials. In the first step, bio-tribological studies with a panel are carried out enabling an objective evaluation of the donning properties of gloves. These results are compared to the coefficient of friction of the gloves against various skin equivalents including polymer based materials, glass and biological tissue. In terms of skin friction, a high correlation between human skin and the biological skin equivalent is obtained. However, in contrast to bio-tribological studies, the friction experiments with biological tissue benefit from high reproducibility and low standard deviation. With the established test method the influence of state-of-the-art surface functionalization processes (chlorination and polymer-based coatings) and lubricants (cornstarch) on the friction properties of medical gloves is investigated in order to evaluate crucial process and surface parameters for low surface friction against human skin.