There are many different types of glove materials and the material you choose should be dependent on the work that you will be performing or the material you will be handling.

There are some characteristics that needs to be considered when choosing your glove material.

• Breakthrough Time
• Permeation
• Degradation

Breakthrough Time

The time it takes for the chemical to permeate through the glove. This can be displayed in minutes or hours.

Permeation

The process for a chemical to slip through the material without any visible indicators.

Degradation

These are the physical changes that you will see on the glove to show that the glove is compromised. These can be color changes, swelling, or destruction.

So let’s look at the different materials

Nitrile

Good general purpose gloves and incidental contact. Good for oils, greases, some acids and bases

Latex

Used in biological work. People had allergies to latex so they started swapping to nitrile. Not good protection against chemicals.

Butyl rubber

Poor resistance against halogenated and aliphatic solvents. Great ketones, aldehydes, and acids. Gloves are thick so watch for dexterity.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Poor against most solvents. Great for acids and bases. Gloves are thick so watch for dexterity.

Neoprene

Poor against aldehydes, amides, aromatic, and halogenated solvents. Great against most corrosives, alcohols, amines, phenols. Gloves are thick so watch for dexterity.

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)

Poor against water, acids, bases, amides. Be careful with aqueous solutions around PVA. Great against halogenated, ketones. Be careful when doing extractions.

Viton

Poor against esters, alcohols, ketones, acrylates. Great against corrosives, aromatics, aldehydes, most halogenated solvents. Gloves are thick so watch for dexterity.

Silver Shields

Poor against iodo compounds (i.e., iodomethane <- methylating agent). Great for a majority of other compounds. Dexterity is an issue due to it being a laminate.

I would refer to Ansell’s glove compatibility chart for specifics. They have a wonderful color-coded chart which shows breakthrough times and permeation rates.