What Does
Nitrile Mean?
Nitrile rubber is a co-polymer made of butadiene and acrylonitrile. Nitrile offers excellent resistance to physical hazards such as punctures, snags, cuts, and abrasions. Nitrile rubber also has considerable resistance against oils, fuels, and certain organic solvents.
Latex allergies are fairly common. For this reason, some companies prefer to stock nitrile rubber gloves as a substitute to latex ones.
Safeopedia Explains Nitrile
Nitrile gloves are often considered a medical grade product. They must undergo a series of tests conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure durability before they can be marketed to hospitals and medical health facilities.
Nitrile rubber is well-suited for making disposable lab, cleaning, and examination gloves. They can be worn for an extended period of time and provide a good level of protection when handling infectious materials, many toxic chemicals, and other hazards found in medical and laboratory environments.
It's important to note, however, that the protection it offers is limited. Nitrile rubber offers poor resistance against strong oxidizing agents, benzene, phenols, ketones, methylene chloride, acetates, and aromatic solvents.