PERMEATION OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL ACRYLATES THROUGH SELECTED PROTECTIVE GLOVE MATERIALS

Abstract

In support of the Premanufacture Notification (PMN) program of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Toxic Substances, the resistance of three glove materials to permeation by multifunctional acrylate compounds was evaluated through a program for the Office of Research and Development. Several recent PMN submissions relate to multifunctional acrylates and essentially no permeation data are available for this class of compounds. To better understand permeation behavior, tests were conducted with trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA), 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA), and two mixtures of HDDA with 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA). Because of the low vapor pressure and low water solubility of these compounds, the tests were conducted by using ASTM Method F739-85 with a silicone rubber sheeting material as the collection medium. Tests were performed at 20°C with butyl, natural, and nitrile rubber glove materials. None of the acrylate compounds nor mixtures was found to permeate the butyl or nitrile rubber under the test conditions. Permeation through the natural rubber was observed in tests with pure HDDA, a 50% HDDA/50% EHA mixture, and a 25% HDDA/75% EHA mixture. TMPTA permeation through the natural rubber was also detected, but only in one of the triplicate tests after the 360–480 min sampling interval. For pure HDDA, the breakthrough detection time was 30–60 min and the steady-state permeation rate was 0.92 µg/cm²-min. For the HDDA/EHA mixtures, permeation of both mixture components was detected during the same sampling interval in each test. The breakthrough detection time was 30–60 min for the 50/50 mixture and from 15–30 to 30–60 min for the 25/75 mixture. The HDDA steady-state permeation rates from the mixtures were somewhat higher than that measured for pure HDDA: 1.02 µg/cm²-min from the 50/50 mixture and 1.35 µg/cm²-min from the 25/75 mixture. The slight increase in permeation rate is attributed to the presence of the more rapidly permeating EHA carrier solvent, which had a permeation rate of 11.7 µg/cm²-min from the 50/50 mixture and 20.0 µg/cm²-min from the 25/75 mixture.