SG 091/25
China releases new mandatory national product standard – GB 45188-2024: Hand Protection – Protective Gloves for Welders.
According to Announcement No. 31 of 2024 issued by the National Standardization Administration, the mandatory national standard GB 45188-2024, titled ‘Hand Protection – Protective Gloves for Welders’, will be implemented on January 1, 2026.
This standard specifies the technical requirements, marking and manufacturer-provided information for protective gloves used in manual metal welding, gas cutting and similar operations. It describes the testing methods and applies to welder protective gloves designed to protect hands and arms during welding and related activities.
Note: this standard is not suitable for protective gloves used in special applications, such as underwater welding, vacuum electron beam welding or automated welding processes requiring specialized equipment.
Definition and types
Welder protective gloves are designed to protect the hands and arms from molten metal droplets, limited flame contact, convective heat, contact heat and mechanical injury. They must also meet vertical resistance requirements for direct current arc welding (voltage less than 100 V).
The standard classifies protective gloves into two types:
- Type A: with high thermal protection performance
- Type B: with lower thermal protection performance
Technical requirements
- Innocuousness: glove materials must meet the technical requirements of 5.2 in GB 42298-2022
- Minimum glove length: shall comply with the standard requirements for the minimum length of gloves corresponding to each size
- Mechanical protection performance:
- Abrasion, tear and puncture resistance must reach at least level 1, as listed in GB 24541-2022
- Cut resistance must meet at least the minimum performance level 1 of the blade cut resistance (coupe test) specified in GB 24541-2022 or the minimum performance level A of the TDM cut resistance test
- Thermal protection performance:
- Type A gloves must comply with the technical requirements for burning behaviour, contact heat resistance, convective heat resistance and resistance to small splashes of molten metal
- Type B gloves must comply with the technical requirements for burning behaviour, contact heat resistance and resistance to small splashes of molten metal.
- Dexterity: protective gloves should meet at least level 1 requirements, defined as the ability to pick up a pin with a minimum diameter of 11.0 mm under test conditions
- Vertical resistance:
- There must be no conductive connection between the internal and external materials of gloves used for arc welding
- The vertical resistance of gloves must be greater than 1 × 10⁵ Ω
- Marking requirements: including marking on the glove itself and on the smallest unit of sales packaging
- Manufacturer-provided information: the manufacturer must supply information as specified in the standard
Details of the technical content
For more information, please refer to the Chinese National Standard GB 45188-2024: Hand Protection- Protective Gloves for Welders, or contact us directly.
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