Protective glove material permeation by organic solids

A method has been developed for the determination of permeation characteristics of glove materials by organic solids. The system employs a stainless steel exposure cell and allows rapid and uniform contact of either solid disks or powders with minimal membrane bowing. A gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector was used for monitoring the permeation process, which provided detection limits of 0.9-1.2 ng for the organic solids evaluated. By using an automated system for instrument control and data collection, breakthrough times, steady-state times, and steady-state permeation rates have been determined for five common glove materials when exposed to nine organic solids.