Industry Standard Tests, Technical Information from BM Polyco Limited

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	Industry Standard Tests

The state-of-the-art Technical Department laboratories at the Group's head office in Enfield are equipped to carry out a range of tests on protective gloves. The chemical and physical test laboratories are accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Services) to ISO 17025.

EN374-2 Determination of Resistance to Water Penetration
This is the reference test specified by the European Standard for the assessment of glove quality. Gloves must pass this test in order to prove that they are an effective barrier against liquids and micro-organisms. A statistical sample taken from a batch of gloves is subject to checks for pinholes and leaks by either inflation with air or by filling with water. Performance levels are assessed according to the acceptable quality levels (AQL) of the gloves.

Gloves must meet at least level 2 of EN374-2 to be considered micro-organism resistant.

Level	1	2	3
AQL	4.0	1.5	0.65

Performance

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EN374-3 Determination of Resistance to Permeation by Chemicals
Resistance to permeation is assessed by measuring the time for a chemical to breakthrough the glove material. Samples, cut from the palms of gloves, are placed in a permeation cell which enables the chemical to be placed in contact with the outer surface of the gloves. Collection air or water is passed through the cell to collect any chemical that has broken through to the inside surface of the glove sample. Polyco laboratories are equipped with a FTIR spectrometer (to detect solvents), conductivity/pH electrodes (to detect acids, alkalis and salts) and UV/Visible spectrophotometer (to detect high boiling point, water soluble chemicals and solvents).

To carry the chemical pictogram,

products must now meet at least level 2 of EN 374-2 as well as a performance level 2 when tested against three of the following chemicals;

Methanol	Acetone	Acetonitrile	Dichloromethane	Carbon Disulphide
Toluene	Diethylamine	Tetrahydrofuran	Ethyl acetate	n-Heptane
Sodium Hydroxide	Sulphuric acid 96%

For gloves that only meet at least level 2 of EN 374-2, the following pictogram should be used.

Performance Level	1	2	3	4	5	6
Breakthough time (min)	>10	>30	>60	>120	>240	>480

Performance levels are assessed according to the breakthrough times of the chemicals.

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EN388 Protective Gloves against Mechanical Risks
The following equipment is used to assess the properties of gloves specified by the EN388 standard.

A Martindale wear and abrasion tester is used to measure the abrasion resistance. The test involves rubbing samples, cut from the palms of gloves, against a standard glass paper until a hole is worn through one of the samples. The number of abrasion cycles is used to assess the performance.

A Sodemat cut tester is used to measure the resistance to cutting. Samples are cut from gloves and placed in a frame which enables a circular, counter-rotating blade to slice through the glove material. The number of cycles required by the blade to cut through the glove are recorded. These are converted into a cutting index by comparison with the number of cycles required to cut through a standard reference material. The standard now allows for an alternative test method to be used for highly cut resistant products and this test is described in EN ISO 13997. It measures the force required to make a cut in the test sample 20mm long and is often referred to as the ISO Cut Test. Performance levels are established according to cutting index.

Performance Level	1	2	3	4	5
Abrasion Cycles	100	500	2000	8000	n/a
Cutting Index	1.2	2.5	5	10	20
Tear Force (N)	10	25	50	75	n/a
Puncture Force (N)	20	60	100	150	n/a
ISO Cut Load (N)				13	22

Puncture and tear resistance are measured with a tensometer. Puncture resistance is measured as the force required to break through samples from gloves with a standard puncture needle (it should be noted that the design of this needle is comparable to that of a large nail, and the puncture strength from this test cannot be used to assess resistance to puncture by hypodermic needles). Tear resistance is measured as the force required to tear apart samples from the glove which are in the form of a pair of trousers (this test is also known as a trouser tear test). The legs of the trouser samples are pulled apart and the maximum force used to assess tearing resistance of the material.

Please click here to download further information on ‘Cut Resistance Testing' (PDF).

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		EN420 General Requirements for Gloves This standard includes tests for glove dimensions, dexterity and allergens. For example, leather gloves are required to have a chromium VI content less than the limit of detection. Gloves are required to be neutral with respect to skin contact. Top

EN407 Protective Gloves Against Thermal Risks

Burning Behaviour is tested according to EN ISO 6941 with the glove mounted and tested vertically. A flame is placed directly below and in line with the glove at an angle of 30° and a distance of 20mm. The glove is tested for each ignition time i.e. 3 seconds and 15 seconds. The flame time and after glow time for each performance level is as follows;

Performance Level	After Flame Time (s)	After Glow Time (s)
1	20	No requirement
2	10	120
3	3	25
4	2	5

Contact Heat is tested according to EN 702. Samples are taken from the palm area and placed in contact with a cylinder of the appropriate temperature. To gain the relevant performance level, the temperature of the inside of the glove cannot rise by more than 10°C within the threshold time.

Performance Level	Contact Temperature °C	Threshold Time
1	100	15
2	250	15
3	350	15
4	500	15

Convective Heat is tested according to EN 367 : 1992. Samples are subjected to the incident heat from a flame, and the heat passing through to the inside of the glove is measured. The time to record a temperature rise of 24°C is the Heat Transfer Index (HTI).

Performance Level	Heat Transfer Index HTI (s)
1	4
2	7
3	10
4	18

Radiant Heat is tested according to EN ISO 6942 : 2002. The sample is exposed to radiant heat density of 20kW/m² and the time taken for the temperature on the inside of the glove to rise 24°C gives the performance level.

Performance Level	Heat Transfer Index HTI (s)
1	7
2	20
3	50
4	95

Resistance to small splashes of molten metal is tested according to EN 348 : 1992. Molten drops from a metal rod melted by exposing the rod to a flame are allowed to fall on the sample. The number of drops required to the raise the temperature on the inside of the glove by 40°C gives the performance level.

Performance Level	Number of droplets
1	10
2	15
3	25
4	35

Resistance to large splashes of molten metal is tested according to EN 373 : 1993. A quantity of molten iron is poured onto the sample, which has a PVC film mounted behind the sample. This film must not show any changes to the surface (such as discrete spots or damage) when the sample is exposed to the quantity of molten iron as shown in the following table;

Performance Level	Molten Iron (g)
1	30
2	60
3	120
4	200

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EN511 Protective Gloves Against Cold

Convective Cold is tested by measuring the power required to maintain a constant temperature on a heated full-scale hand model in the ambient atmosphere of a climatic room which provides uniform conditions. The hand model is typically heated to 30-35°C. The resultant thermal insulation (ITR) is calculated using the hand model temperature, climatic room temperature and the power consumption of the heated hand to maintain a constant temperature.

Performance Level	Thermal Insulation (I_TR) in m²°C/W
1	0.10 I_TR < 0.15
2	0.15 I_TR < 0.22
3	0.22 I_TR < 0.30
4	0.30 I_TR

Contact Cold is tested according to ISO 5085-1 : 1989. The Thermal Resistance (R) is calculated by placing the sample on top of a heated plate with another metal plate (cold plate) placed on top of the sample. This is placed inside a cabinet which has an extractor fan to draw air past the assembly which has a cooling effect on the cold plate. The temperature gradient either side of the sample is measured and compared with the temperature gradient either side of a reference standard. The Thermal Insulation is calculated from the known thermal resistance of the standard and the measured temperature gradients.

Performance Level	Thermal Insulation (R) in m²°C/W
1	0.025 R < 0.050
2	0.050 R < 0.100
3	0.100 R < 0.150
4	0.150 R

Water Impermeability is tested in accordance with EN 344 : 1992. Water penetration shall not appear less than 30 minutes after the start of the test and is essentially a pass or fail.

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EN60903 Live Working Gloves of Insulating Material

To obtain compliance with EN60903, all gloves must be tested to the relevant voltage in the table shown. The construction, thickness and test voltage combine to give the class compliance. To maintain compliance, gloves must be inspected and/or re-tested every 6 months.

A/C

Class	Testing voltage	Maximum working voltage
00	2,500V	500V
0	5,000V	1,000V
1	10,000V	7,500V
2	20,000V	17,000V
3	30,000V	26,500V
4	40,000V	36,000V

D/C

Class	Testing voltage	Maximum working voltage
00	4,000V	750V
0	10,000V	1,500V
1	20,000V	11,250V
2	30,000V	25,500V
3	40,000V	39,750V
4	60,000V	54,000V

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		EN1186 Food Contact Food There are two stages that a glove manufacturer must go through to ensure that a product is suitable for food use; Ensure that the product formulation is made from products listed in directive 2002/72/EC (relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs). This is a positive list whereby the product concerned can only be made from the materials listed in this directive. Perform migration testing to ensure that the article in contact with food does not leach anything into the food. This is detailed in the EN1186 series of standards (materials and articles in contact with foodstuffs – plastics). If both of these criteria are meet, the following symbol can be applied to the glove and/or packaging: EN1186 This set of standards lays down what chemicals can be used to replicate the various food types as well as the methods used. There are 4 food stuffs defined: Aqueous; where plain water is used as the food simulant Alcoholic; where 10% ethanol solution is used as the food simulant Acidic; where 3% acetic acid solution is used as the food simulant Fatty; where various equivalents are used as the food stimulant. Typically these are iso-octane, 95% ethanol or olive oil. Typically for gloves repeated extractions of 2 hours are carried out at 40°C to mimic repetitive transient contact. EN1186 requires that there is a maximum overall migration limit from the article into the food of 10mg/dm², any article being used in contact with food must meet this requirement. EN1186 also allows for reduction factors to be applied to fatty food. This is based on the fat content of the food and the ability of a particular foodstuff to extract component(s) out of an article in contact with food. Highly fatty foods such as oils have no reduction factors, while meats have a reduction factor of 4 and shelled roasted nuts have a reduction factor of 5. This means that even when the overall migration limit of 10mg/dm² is exceeded, the article may still be suitable for use depending on the type of food being handled. Top