The hypothesis is that an already existing mathematical model can be confirmed to predict permeation of mixture components through glove materials. A secondary hypothesis is to assess whether the index of skin irritation, the Corrositex rating, will be useful in worker dermal exposure risk assessment when gloves are worn.
The specific aims are to select the irritative mixtures to be investigated; to identify and quantify the major components; to select the types of gloves; to select the types of challenges; to determine the skin-irritative components in all challenges using the Corrositex assay; to determine the kinetic parameters of permeation, the steady state permeation rate, and the lag time, for each component using an ASTM-type permeation cell with liquid collection and GC/MS, LC/MS, and FT/IR; to evaluate the permeation characteristics of the reconstituted formulations and inert component mixtures; to measure Corrositex ratings for all challenge and collection systems; to confirm whether the logarithm of the steady state permeation rate and logarithm of the lag time depend on the logarithm of the mass composition, the logarithm of the molar volume, and the logarithm of the octanol/water coefficient; and to assess whether a multivariate model that also accounts for interactions among the three solvent parameters and glove parameters ought produce a more general model. The mixtures to be studied are: formulations of irritant pesticides, three being liquid when pure and four being solid when pure; and two cutting oils, one semisynthetic metal-working fluid; and a standard kit of chemicals used in the patch-testing of soluble metal-working mixtures. In addition, challenges with the smallest recommended dilution in water will be evaluated for each component or mixture. The gloves to be evaluated are lined and unlined nitrile and butyl, Silver Shield laminate, and Viton industrial chemically-resistant gloves, and procedures nitrile and butyl gloves. The relationship of the fundamental independent variables to the kinetic parameters of permeation and to the Corrositex rating as the index of irritation will be determined and compared.
