Skin Protection Against Flux Remover

The answer depends on which solvents are present in the specific flux remover.

GC 22-271 contains trichloroethylene and isopropanol. Natural rubber (latex) is rated as having "fair" resistance against TCE and "very good" resistance against isopropanol, according to the page at

Nitrile gloves might be better, as nitrile is "good" against TCE (and "very good") against isopropanol. It's a bit stiffer than latex, but (in my experience) it's significantly tougher. Some people have, or can develop an allergic sensitivity to latex; this doesn't happen with nitrile, as far as I know.

Nitrile gloves are widely available... even Costco has 'em by the boxful.

Artist wrote in news:9eudnY5qLJbnNoTWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@speakeasy.net:

nitrile gloves,resistant to most solvents. Harbor Freight sells them,around $10 per box of 100.

You can probably buy them at Wal Mart,too.

HF often has them for $6 or $7 per hundred. I couldn't find them at WallyWorld, only latex. Auto parts stores usually have them though at quite a premium over HF so I usually buy an extra box when I'm at a HF store.

The screen cleaning solvents I use kill the nitrile gloves pretty quickly. Maybe halfway through the job. Latex gloves disolve away in seconds. Why can't they make gloves out of something more like skin (which seems to stand up fine)?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Liberals would be an easy source of loose skin ;-) ...Jim Thompson

If the skin holds up fine, why the gloves? ;-)

Precisely :-). The only time I ever use gloves is around strong acids or alkaline, such as lead acid batteries, but even then usually forget.

Most solvents are no problem for short term exposure, ime...

Regards,

Chris

For small values of "most" and "short". I buy boxes of nitrile gloves because I use a fair amount of stain and polyurethane. I hate that stuff on my hands. I rarely use gloves for anything else used around the house.

=20

So you have never dealt with HF solutions nor BF3 solutions. Or any other really nasty chemicals. Arsine, UDMH, RFNA and some others come readily to mind. Read the MSDS for methyl-ethyl-ketone (MEK) for instance.

Best skin protection for any liquid chemical is: Do not touch it.

or=20

Yep, they have some crazy stuff there. Not sure if any are as bad as methylisocyanate(?) (MIC) of Bhopal incident fame. Hellishly toxic and reactive, and it and almost all reaction products are very toxic, and it goes crazy when exposed to water (like carbon disulfide and relatives).

Why bother? You get a better grade from sewer rats, and they don't smell as bad.