Secrets to Succesful Dipping for Toy Balloons

Manufacturer: We are toy balloons manufacturer who have just started commissioning our new dipping dipping line. We would appreciate very much if you could guide us on the "Do's and Don't's" on how to produce good quality balloons. Our full dipping parameters and video clips of our process have been sent to you.

John Woon (Senior Latex Consultant): Thanks for the dipping parameters and video clips which are very helpful for me to understand your process. Obviously, there are a lot of rooms for improvement in your process.

As requested by you, my full report has been sent to you separately but only a summary of the content is revealed in this "forum".

The following are the areas you need to concentrate on:

1) How to Overcome Latex Quality and Stability Problem 

- You need to know how to assess the suitability of centrifuged latex concentrate 

2) Importance of Prevulcanized latex vs Post-vulcanisable latex

- How to produce and handle both these latices

3) Types of Plasticizer to Be Used for Making the Balloons Softer

- Techniques on how to prepare the plasticizer

4) The Dipping Parameters

- The "Secrets" you need to know from formers cleaning stage to final stripping and drying stages

5) Analysis of Balloon Defects and How To Overcome Them

- Some examples of defects frequently encountered by manufacturers include the following:

Thin patches/uneven latex pick-up

Horizontal lines (Striation)

Fish-eyes and windows

Bubbles at bottom of balloons

Fungus growth

Premature bursting/popping

Balloons becoming stiffer on storage

Balloons sticking together 

Tearing of balloons

Blemished surface

Specky particles

Vertical lines with windows and particles

Star-like particles

Vertical lines along the folds