Polyco Healthline Catalogue

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 (coup) 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. If the blade is shown to be blunted by the test the standard now allows for an alternative test method to be used for highly cut resistant products. 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. This means that you can potentially have more than one cut score shown on a glove in future, however there is no correlation between the two tests. Performance levels are established according to cutting index. 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.

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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.

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) 2 5 10 15 22 Impact resistanceP (if passing test) 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

Performance Level After Flame Time (s) After Glow Time (s)

1

2

3

4

≤20 ≤10 ≤3

≤2 ≤5

-

≤120 ≤25

The flame time and after glow time for each performance level is as follows: Contact Heat is tested according to EN702. 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 4 Contact Temperature 0 C 100 250 350 500 Threshold Time ≥15 ≥15 ≥15 ≥15 1 2 3

Convective Heat is tested according to EN367 : 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

1

2

3

4

Heat Transfer Index HTI (s) ≥4

≥7

≥10 ≥18

Radiant Heat is tested according to EN ISO 6942 : 2002. The sample is exposed to radiant heat density of 20kW/m 2 and the time taken for the temperature on the inside of the glove to rise 24 ° C gives the performance level.

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

Resistance to small splashes of molten metal is tested according to EN348 : 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 raise the temperature on the inside of the glove by 40 ° C gives the performance level.

Performance Level Number of Droplets

1

2

3

4

≥10 ≥15 ≥25 ≥35

Resistance to large splashes of molten metal is tested according to EN373 : 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 table opposite.

Performance Level

1

2

3

4

Molten Iron (g)

30

60

120 200

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