An epidemic has ushered in their "highlight moment" for protective gloves, masks and other protective products, and personal protective products companies have sprung up, and products are mixed, and consumers are dazzled, and it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad. In fact, in the field of protective gloves, there are product performance standards recognized by the international market, such as: EN388, EN511, EN407, EN374, EN ISO 21420 and so on.
To declare that gloves have mechanical risk protection, the wear, tear, cut, puncture and impact resistance of glove products must be evaluated according to the EN388 standard, and the protection performance of gloves is divided into different grades according to the laboratory test results. On the one hand, we can judge whether the gloves have mechanical protection function by whether the product has obtained EN388 certification, and on the other hand, we can choose the labor protection gloves that meet our own protection needs according to the performance level.
Discription of EN388:
EN388 is one of the European standards for industrial protective gloves, and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) approved version EN388:2003 on July 2, 2003. EN388:2016 was published in November 2016, replacing EN388:2003, and was revised in 2018 with a supplementary version EN388:2016+A1:2018.
EN388 grade and test method:
Abrasion resistance
Take the glove palm material, wear it with sandpaper under a fixed pressure, calculate the number of revolutions until a hole appears on the wear material, wear level from 1 to 4 numbers indicate that the higher the number of revolutions, the better the wear resistance.
Blade Cut Resistance-Coupe
A rotating circular blade is moved horizontally back and forth across the glove sample, recording the number of blade turns as the blade penetrates the sample. The same blade is used to test the number of cutting circles of the standard canvas before and after the sample test, and the wear degree of the blade during the sample and the canvas test is compared to determine the cutting resistance of the sample. The cutting resistance is divided into 1-5 grades, which are represented by 1-5 numbers.
Tear Resistance
The material of the glove palm is torn by the pulling device, and the level of tear resistance of the product is determined by calculating the force required for tearing, which is represented by a number between 1 and 4. The higher the force value, the better the tear resistance. (Considering the characteristics of the textile material, the warp and weft, tear test includes both transverse and longitudinal tests.)
4.Puncture Resistance
Pierce the glove palm material with a standard needle, and determine the degree of puncture resistance of the product by calculating the force used to Pierce, as indicated by a number between 1 and 4. The higher the force value, the better the puncture resistance.
5.Cut Resistance - ISO 13997 TDM
TDM cutting test is to use a blade to cut the glove palm material at a constant speed, test the walking length of the blade when cutting through the sample under different loads, and use a precise mathematical formula to calculate (slope) to find out how much force is required to make the blade cut through the sample when walking 20mm.
This test is A new addition to EN388:2016, and the result grade is indicated by A-F, with F being the highest grade. Compared to EN 388:2003 coupe tests, TDM tests can provide more accurate indicators of working anti-cutting performance.
6.Impact resistance(EN 13594)
The sixth character represents shock protection, which is an optional test. If the gloves have been tested for impact protection, this information is given by the letter P as the sixth and final symbol. Without P, gloves do not have impact protection.
