Ammonia and Ethylene Oxide Permeation through Selected Protective Clothing

摘要

A study was conducted to evaluate protective clothing garment materials used by emergency response personnel and to determine their effectiveness when combating ammonia (7664417) or ethylene-oxide (75218) in gaseous form. Data were collected using an automated permeation test system for 13 garment materials representing 11 types of total encapsulating suit materials and two glove materials. For the study neat (100 percent) and 2000 parts per million (0.2 percent) gas were chosen as challenge concentrations. A closed loop test system was chosen for the study using an infrared detector. Breakthrough times and steady state permeation rates were determined. The results indicated suitable garment materials were found to protect workers against 100 percent anhydrous ammonia for an extended time period and there was also a large selection of materials for 0.2 percent ammonia. Surgical latex was not recommended for protection against ammonia. While several materials offered reasonable working time protection against 100 percent ethylene-oxide, only two of the 13 materials were useful for extended time periods. The semiautomated test system used expedited chemical permeation resistance testing and proved to be effective in securing the needed data.