Nitrile or latex gloves in cleanroom environment?

What are latex gloves?

To understand what latex gloves are, we must first clarify what latex is. Latex is a natural product obtained from the milky sap of the rubber tree. It is natural rubber or natural rubber that is biodegradable. However, latex can cause allergic reactions. For a long time, we had to accept this because latex was the only material on the market that was robust enough for use in gloves for medical, food and cleaning applications.

Today, however, there are alternative materials that are more widely available and serve as an alternative to latex gloves. Reasons for using latex gloves, even though there are alternatives, are habit, internal guidelines and comfort.

What are nitrile gloves?

Nitrile gloves are an alternative to latex gloves. As the name implies, they are made of nitrile, a synthetic rubber compound. So, unlike latex, nitrile is manufactured artificially. However, there are also biodegradable versions of nitrile gloves.

Why are nitrile gloves better than latex gloves?

Nitrile gloves offer a number of advantages over other materials, especially latex:

Highest puncture resistance compared to any other glove material
Better chemical resistance compared to latex and vinyl
Long durability
Improved fingertip feel (haptics)
Better post-cleaning possibilities and therefore higher cleanliness
Possible alternative in case of latex allergy, as the allergy risk is reduced with nitrile
Less skin irritation

Among the disadvantages of nitrile gloves compared to latex gloves is that the latter are less expensive. However, latex gloves are also not as high quality. If there is no latex allergy and the higher puncture resistance and better chemical resistance are not important, you can also reach for latex gloves.

Advantages of nitrile gloves and latex gloves
nitrile gloves	latex gloves
highest puncture resistance
better chemical resistance
long durability
allergic reactions much less frequent
less skin irritations
higher purity
good fit	comfortable fit
wearable over a longer period of time	wearable over a longer period of time
meanwhile better fingertip feeling (haptics)	good fingertip feeling (haptics)
high wearing comfort	high wearing comfort
partly biodegradable designs	biodegradable designs
	inexpensive

Latex allergy

A natural latex allergy is an allergy to latex proteins, which is why it is also called a protein allergy. This allergy can even lead to anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal in the worst cases.

A natural latex allergy can cause a variety of symptoms, including:

Severe itching of the skin
Tingling of the skin
Inflammation of the nasal mucosa
Conjunctivitis
Swelling of the skin surface and larynx
Edema in the tissues
Abdominal cramps
General itching
Hives
Hives (Urticaria)
Nausea
Diarrhea
Palpitations
Cardiac arrest and respiratory failure
Dizzy spells
Low blood pressure
Asthma-like symptoms
Narrowing of the airways

It is important to take a natural latex allergy seriously and seek immediate medical attention if symptoms occur. People with this allergy should avoid all contact with latex products to prevent allergic reactions. There are several alternative glove materials, such as nitrile gloves, which are free of latex proteins and therefore safer for people with a latex allergy.

Allergic contact dermatitis can be caused by vulcanization accelerators, plasticizers, stabilizers, antioxidants, biocides, preservatives, process accelerators and other substances found in or on the gloves.

Symptoms of contact allergy may include the following:

Blotchy redness of the skin
Itching
Swelling
Formation of blisters

If latex gloves are used and allergic reactions occur, this may not be a latex allergy, but an allergy to the plasticizer, vulcanization accelerator or other substances contained in the gloves. Plasticizers and vulcanization accelerators are also contained in nitrile gloves. However, if you are allergic to vulcanization accelerators, you can use special nitrile gloves that do not contain such accelerators.

If you are looking for a high quality nitrile glove, we recommend the nitrile glove CELOS Glove 1.10. This nitrile glove is best suited as a cleanroom glove and is recommended for cleanroom classes ISO 4-9.

The nitrile glove “CELOS Glove 1.10″ is available in white and in sizes XS to 3XL. It has a length of 30 cm (12 “). The nitrile gloves are double underpacked in PE film suitable for cleanrooms and sealed under vacuum. Per sales unit 1’000 gloves are delivered, divided into 10 bags of 100 pieces.

This nitrile glove offers the following properties:

Contains no latex
Reduced allergy risk
No use of vulcanization accelerators in the manufacturing process
Unpowdered
High degree of purity: post-cleaning with 0.2 µm filtered deionized water
Ambidextrous wearable
Acceptable Quality Level (AQL value) is 1.5
Very good fit
Close fitting cuff
High wearing comfort
Excellent fingertip feeling
Textured fingertips
Very good grip
Very tear resistant
Very puncture resistant
Low particle and ion residue levels
Good surface resistance (= ESD compliant)

Compared to other cleanroom gloves, the “CELOS Glove 1.10” contains nitrile glove contains significantly fewer chemical additives. This applies in particular to sulfur.

We are happy to advise you

In addition to the “CELOS Glove 1.10”, we at abovo AG also offer a selection of other nitrile gloves as well as cleanroom gloves made of other materials, such as latex, in our online store.

If you are unsure which type of cleanroom glove is best suited for your application, our experts will be happy to advise you. You can contact us without obligation by e-mail (info@abovo.ch) or also by telephone (+41 32 552 44 44).