Glove Compatibility Chart

A glove compatibility chart is a reference table, published by a glove manufacturer, distributor, or standards body, that rates a specific glove product’s resistance to specific chemicals — typically expressed as a breakthrough-time-based class (for example, the ANSI/ISEA 105 0-6 scale or an EN 374 letter code) rather than a plain “resistant / not resistant” label. For a procurement officer or lab manager, the chart is the primary decision document for specifying which glove goes on a purchase order for a given task: it converts laboratory test data into a lookup a non-chemist can use, and it is the artifact an auditor or safety committee will expect to see referenced when a glove selection is questioned.

What Makes a Chart “Compatibility-Grade” — Not Just Marketing Copy

Not every table a vendor calls a “chemical resistance chart” carries real test data behind it. A genuine, decision-grade compatibility chart has four identifying features:

• Named test method. The rating traces back to a real permeation or degradation test — in the US, almost always ASTM F739 (permeation) or ASTM D6978 (specifically for chemotherapy/hazardous-drug permeation); in Europe, EN 16523-1 underlies the EN ISO 374 family.
• A specific product, not a material family. The rating is tied to a named glove product and thickness (e.g., a specific 15-mil unsupported nitrile chemical glove), not to “nitrile” in general — two nitrile products at different thicknesses and formulations can have meaningfully different breakthrough times against the same chemical.
• A specific chemical and concentration. “Acid” or “solvent” is a category, not a test condition. A defensible chart entry names the compound (e.g., 98% sulfuric acid, not “strong acid”) and, ideally, the concentration tested.
• A breakthrough time or class, not a binary label. “Resistant” without a time value cannot be compared against a task duration. A chart entry that only gives Yes/No is not compatibility-grade data.

The Standards Behind the Numbers

Two testing frameworks generate almost all of the data that ends up on a compatibility chart:

• ASTM F739 (US) measures permeation — the chemical moving through the glove material at a molecular level, without visible damage — and reports a breakthrough time, the point at which the permeation rate crosses a defined threshold. ANSI/ISEA 105 then converts that breakthrough time into a simple Class 0-6 rating (Class 0: under 10 minutes; Class 6: 480 minutes/8 hours or more) that appears on most US retail and distributor charts.
• EN ISO 374 (Europe/UK) uses its own breakthrough-time classification and a letter code — Type A, B, or C — indicating how broadly a glove resists a defined list of standard test chemicals for at least 30 minutes each, with Type A being the broadest. The underlying physics (degradation, penetration, permeation) is identical to the US framework; only the labeling convention differs, which matters when comparing a US-sourced chart against an internationally sourced glove’s own documentation.

Under US regulation, OSHA’s PPE standard for hand protection, 29 CFR 1910.138, requires employers to select gloves based on the specific task and hazard — a compatibility chart is the evidence a lab or EHS office points to when demonstrating that selection was hazard-based rather than arbitrary.

How to Read a Chart Entry — Worked Example

A typical manufacturer chart row looks roughly like: Chemical: Acetone (100%) — Glove: [Product name], 15 mil nitrile — ANSI/ISEA Class: 1 (breakthrough time approximately 12 minutes). Read correctly, that entry says the specific glove product, at its tested thickness, begins to let acetone through at the molecular level after roughly 12 minutes of continuous contact — a Class 1 rating, near the bottom of the 0-6 scale. For a task involving brief, incidental splash contact with acetone that is wiped and gloves changed within a few minutes, that may be an acceptable risk under a documented procedure. For a task involving sustained immersion or repeated contact over an 8-hour shift, the same entry is a clear “do not use this product for this task” signal, and the buyer should look up a higher-class alternative — in this case, a chemically different material (butyl rubber and laminate barrier films both resist ketones such as acetone far better than nitrile) rather than a thicker version of the same poorly-matched material.

What a Compatibility Chart Cannot Tell You

A chart is a starting point for specification, not a substitute for task-level judgment. It does not, by itself, account for:

• Chemical mixtures. Charts rate single compounds. A glove that individually resists two chemicals well is not guaranteed to resist a mixture of the two as well as its weaker-performing single component — treat novel mixtures as the worst-case component unless the manufacturer has tested the mixture directly.
• Concentration outside the tested value. A rating measured against a dilute solution does not automatically extend to the concentrated form of the same chemical.
• Mechanical wear, temperature, or reuse. Breakthrough time is measured under controlled lab conditions; flexing, abrasion, elevated temperature, and any prior chemical exposure to the same glove can all shorten real-world protection time relative to the chart value.
• Discontinued or reformulated products. Manufacturers periodically reformulate a glove line without renaming it. A saved PDF chart from a prior purchasing cycle is not guaranteed to describe the product currently shipping under that SKU — a chart with no visible publication or revision date is a caution sign, not a reason to reject the product outright, but it should prompt a request for current data before a large order is placed.

A table that has no test-method citation, no product identifier, and no chemical-specific breakthrough data — for example, a generic “nitrile resists most chemicals” claim printed on packaging with no accompanying data table — is not a compatibility chart in the operational sense used here; it is marketing language borrowing the format of one.

Using a Compatibility Chart in Procurement

For an institutional buyer specifying gloves at facility scale, the compatibility chart is one input into a documented selection process, not the whole process:

1. Start from the chemical, via the Safety Data Sheet. Section 8 (Exposure Controls/Personal Protection) of a chemical’s SDS frequently names a recommended glove material directly, and is the primary reference an auditor will expect a lab to have consulted.
2. Confirm against the current manufacturer chart for the specific product being purchased — not a cached or third-party-reproduced version, since reformulation and chart revisions happen without notice.
3. Match chart data to actual task duration and contact type — incidental splash risk and sustained immersion call for different classes even against the same chemical.
4. Document the rationale (chemical, glove product, chart class/breakthrough time, date checked) alongside the purchase order or standard operating procedure, so the selection is defensible on later review, not just remembered informally.
5. Re-verify on reorder if a meaningful interval has passed since the chart was last checked, particularly for chemotherapy/hazardous-drug work, where ASTM D6978 data and USP General Chapter 800 compliance expectations are typically held to a higher documentation standard than general bench chemical handling.

Distributors and group-purchasing platforms — LAC Health among them — commonly aggregate manufacturer spec sheets and chart PDFs alongside product listings, which can save a buyer the step of finding the manufacturer’s own documentation; that convenience does not remove the buyer’s responsibility to confirm the underlying chart is current and chemical-specific before relying on it for a compliance-relevant purchase.

Related Terms and Further Reading

• Chemical-Resistant Glove Selection Guide — the full material-by-chemical-class comparison table and change-out-schedule guidance this term intentionally does not reproduce in full.
• How to Specify and Buy Nitrile Gloves for the Lab — grade differences (exam, general-purpose, chemotherapy-rated) and facility-scale purchasing mechanics.
• Nitrile Glove Sizing — the companion sizing/fit side of a glove specification.
• PPE Selection for Chemical Handling in the Lab — where glove selection fits alongside eyewear and lab-coat decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a glove compatibility chart the same as a permeation chart?
Usually, yes in practice — most published “compatibility charts” are permeation-test-derived (ASTM F739 or EN 16523-1 data converted to a class or breakthrough time). Some vendor charts also fold in degradation observations (swelling, softening) alongside permeation data; a careful reader checks which failure mode a given rating actually measures.

Do all glove manufacturers publish compatibility charts?
Most major chemical-glove manufacturers publish a chemical resistance chart or searchable online tool for their product lines, since it is expected documentation for institutional buyers. Coverage and format vary — some publish full breakthrough-time tables, others only a coarser class rating — which is why cross-checking against the SDS and, where the purchase is compliance-sensitive, requesting the underlying test data directly from the manufacturer remains good practice.

How often should a compatibility chart be re-checked before reordering?
There is no single mandated interval, but because manufacturers can reformulate a product without renaming it, a documented recheck at each significant reorder — or at minimum annually for standing chemical-handling PPE contracts — is a defensible practice, and is easy to fold into an existing PPE program review.