Objective: Develop a test method to determine cuff load capacity during simulated donning of examination and surgical gloves. Method: A hook was held in the lower grip of a universal test machine. A glove finger cut from the same type glove to be tested was used to sheathe the tip of the hook, and was secured with adhesive tape. The upper grip was used to secure the two-ply palm region of the test glove, and the cuff was positioned so the tip of the hook engaged a position approximately 2.5cm from the single-ply cuff edge. The distance between the hook tip and the upper grip was constant, and the glove extension rate was 500mm/min. Sample size was 10. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and means were compared with Fisher’s PLSD test at the 0.05 level of significance. Results: Means with standard deviations in parentheses are shown in the table.
Glove |
Maximum Load(N) |
Thickness of Cuff(mm) |
Maximum Load/ Thickness (N/mm) |
Maximum Extension(mm) |
Nitrile1 |
39.9(2.1)a |
0.05 |
799(41) |
240(17)c |
Nitrile2 |
25.2(2.0)b |
0.04 |
629(50) |
304(22) |
Latex1 |
37.6(4.3)a |
0.07 |
537(60) |
351(36) |
Latex2 |
24.7(2.1)b |
0.06 |
412(36) |
220(20)c |
Means with the same superscripted letters are statistically the same.
Conclusions: With a sample size of 10, this donning-simulation test provided repeatable failure loads and extensions for different gloves. There were significant differences in data for maximum load, load/thickness and maximum extension for different gloves, which may explain why some gloves tear more easily than others during donning. This project was supported by Dental Consultants, Inc.