Surgical rubber latex

Because of their widespread use in the American workplace, butyl rubber, nitrile latex, neoprene latex, poly(vinyl alcohol), surgical rubber latex, and Viton elastomer were chosen for the present studies. The composite/bonded substances of this study were not in all cases presently available as commercial material for protective garments, but rather were chosen to determine their potential for resistance to solvent permeation. Likewise, Teflon gloves were included in these studies simply because they are commercially available. 

Figure 8. Volume change of surgical rubber latex as a function of time following immersion in 1,1,2-trichloroethane...

As may be seen in Table IV and Figs. 9-18, the apparent breakthrough times for 1,2-dichloroethane varied from less than 2 min for surgical rubber latex to more than 24h (1440 min) for non-crumpled Teflon. However, for this same Teflon which had been crumpled, breakthrough occurred at 90 min. Because in an actual work situation a crumpling of the Teflon would likely occur to an extent greater than that of these tests, the Teflon should be used with caution for most work situations. 

Of the remaining materials in Table IV, only Viton, neoprene rubber latex,poly(vinyl alcohol), butyl rubber, and butyl-coated nylon exhibited at least a 20-min breakthrough time forl,2 dichloro-ethane permeation to occur. The nitrile rubber latex, cement dipped nitrile rubber, polyethylene (medium density), and surgical rubber latex were all penetrated by 1,2-dichloroethane in less than 3 min and would be of little use in situations requiring the garment to be in constant contact with 1,2-dichloroethane. From the above, butyl rubber or Viton appear to be the best materials to protect the worker against 1,2-dichloroethane, but because of apparent lot-to-lot variations(20) in butyl properties, Viton appears to be the best suited material of these studies to protect the worker from this chemical. 

For the homogeneous, nonbonded materials evaluated in these studies (butyl rubber, neoprene latex, nitrile latex, polyethylene, polyvinyl alcohol), surgical rubber latex, and Viton elastomer), only the perlyVinyl alcohol) did not correlate well in this relationship. As has been shown in Fig. 6, most likely the polyethylene... 

SURGICAL RUBBER LATEX 0 BUTYL RUBBER NITRILE RUBBER LATEX NEOPRENE RUBBER LATEX... 

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