How balloons are made
The white dust inside a latex balloon is leftover calcium nitrate, the coating that helped it peel off its form.
- stations
- 8
- things upstream
- 3
- raw sources
- 3
- step from the ground
- 1
The short version
Latex balloons are dipped, not blown. A balloon-shaped form is washed with hot water, heated, dipped in calcium nitrate and dried, then dipped in latex. The neck is rolled up, the skin soaks in hot water, and an oven vulcanizes it at 140 to 160 °C. Finally it is coated with anti-tack slurry, stripped off and tumbled clean.
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Wash and heat the form
Every balloon starts on a reusable form blasted with high-pressure hot water. The form then rides through a preheated oven so the next coatings go on warm.
Goes in -
Dip in calcium nitrate
The form dips into calcium nitrate, which coats it and helps with stripping later. An oven dries the coat before the rubber arrives. This is the white powder found inside finished balloons.
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Dip into compounded latex
The dry, coated form goes into a tank of latex, which already carries the sulfur, accelerator and activator it will need to cure, and comes out wearing a thin skin of rubber.
Goes in -
Roll up the neck
At the rolling station, the open edge of the skin curls up the form into the bead you stretch to tie a knot.
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Leach in hot water
Each form passes through a tank of hot water that pulls out leftover calcium nitrate and starts a light cure in the rubber.
Goes in -
Vulcanize in an oven
An oven finishes the cure at 140 to 160 °C. Sulfur links the rubber together here, and this is the step that gives the balloon its stretch and strength.
140-160 °C
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Coat with anti-tack slurry
The form dips once more, this time into a slurry that coats the outside of the skin. It stops finished pieces from gluing themselves together and eases them off the form.
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Strip and tumble
The skin comes off the form and drops into a tumbler, where it is sprayed with a cleaning solution. After that it is ready to bag and sell.
Worth repeating
- Michael Faraday invented the rubber balloon in 1824, during experiments with various gases.
- Helium atoms escape through small pores in latex that are larger than the atoms, so a latex balloon floats for only a day or so.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and balloon starts as these 3 raw sources.
Open the whole family tree
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How balloons are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/balloon