Facilities Overview
Gloves
At KOSSAN, Research and Development takes the leading role in meeting demands of dynamic market segments from healthcare to industrial application.
Our continuous research leads to breakthroughs in glove technology with numerous patented innovations.
Our Research and Development Centre serves as the company gateway to enable continuous transformation thorough technology and innovation.
We have established an efficient Research and Development (R&D) team that provides R&D support to our endeavor in providing innovative medical gloves that can meet the requirement of our customers. Our competent and resourceful R&D team of chemists and engineers provides reliable services for both our internal research projects and medical glove factory operations.
Their daily tasks include rubber and chemicals identification, rubber network studies, failure analysis, understanding of rubber and crosslink agents’ interaction, enhancement of production process, analysis of competitor products, compliance with regulatory requirements and compliance to environment requirements. The accumulated results from these well-planned research activities lead to innovative quality glove products that meet the ever-increasing demand of our customers.
Our R&D chemists are trained in advanced analytical techniques such as analysis using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR).
Testing Equipment
High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR)
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (Non-microscope, FTIR)
Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS)
Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer (STA)
Ion Chromatography (IC)
Liquid Particle Counter (LPC)
Air Particle Counter (APC)
UV-Vis Spectrophotometer (UV-Vis)
Particle Size Analyzer (PSA)
Zeta Potential Analyzer
Microplate Protein Reader
Optical Contact Angle (OCA)
Chemical Permeation Cell
Durability Machine
Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX)
Digital Microscope
Universal Tensile Machine (UTM)
Expanding from the well-established HPLC and FTIR techniques, our trained chemists are able to provide the needed information to the factory operations. Some of the contributions include the following:
- Developing technologies in sample preparation and extraction methods for HPLC analysis
- Evaluation and quantification of residual chemicals in gloves
- Benchmarking the level of residual chemicals in gloves from the market
- Developing our patent-pending medical gloves with low dermatitis claim
- Contamination analysis and impurities screening
- Glove degradation identification
- Identification of unknown rubber and chemicals
- Evaluating the purity of raw materials and chemicals
- Developing in-house FTIR library of rubber and rubber chemicals
- Monitoring in situ chemical reactions
Extractable Protein and Antigenic Protein Testing
In order to provide safe-usage of natural rubber latex medical gloves to our customers, we have continuously improved our glove dipping technology and with proper treatment of the raw materials to produce natural rubber latex gloves with low protein level. We have also expanded our testing facility to include antigenic protein measurement in addition to the total protein measurement using the modify Lowry method. The antigenic protein measurement is in compliance to ASTM D 6499 Standard Test Method for the Immunological Measurement of Antigenic Protein in Natural Rubber and its Products.
Dipping Process Simulation
Industrial robotic technology has been installed in our R & D laboratory to offer detailed simulation of the glove dipping process. Dipping process design involving a large range of parameters can now be executed in a consistent automated manner and the results can be transferred and analyzed at the factory floor.
This special facility enables new product and new process to be developed and tested in the shortest time possible.