Safety for the product and the wearer - Cleanroom boots must withstand a wide range of requirements
Cleanroom boots in the A/B or ISO 4 to 6 range have a truly supporting role. Not only do they prevent a bellows effect at the end of the legs, boots with appropriate soles are the decisive factor for the wearer's stability on cleanroom floors, which are always slippery and often damp.
When thinking about cleanroom clothing, the focus is usually on outerwear. This is logical, as work in the cleanroom with sensitive products often takes place at a work table and possible contamination is basically caused by the linear air flow from above through the area of the body above the hips on the product. Nevertheless, the function of the boot should not be underestimated. The path from the airlock to the work table must be safe to walk in the boot. Likewise, there are increasingly larger cleanroom facilities where longer distances have to be covered and many steps are necessary throughout the working day.
Requirements for boots:
- Good stability, even on damp floors -> grip effect.
- Suitable and firm frame for the inner shoe
- Good hold on the back of the foot and on the shin or around the calf
- Sterilisable for the A/B area
- Antistatic properties
Requirements for soles:
- Large surface sole profile to easily remove dirt/particles during washing
- High abrasion resistance of the sole
- Sterilisability for the A/B area
- Antistatic properties
Alsico High Tech mainly uses two types of vulcanised nitrile rubber soles: the Combi-P sole and the UG sole.
The Combi-P sole has a profile of large tiles with wide gaps for optimal cleaning. Despite this large division of the sole structure, the sole offers good grip properties on dry and slightly damp floors.
The UG sole (UG= Ultra Grip) focuses on stability on very wet floors with very good abrasion resistance at the same time. This sole was originally designed for a large multinational company in the automation and electronics industry. There, the employees work on very special cleanroom floors with a strong abrasion effect and which can be very damp or wet. All previously common soles from different manufacturers offered an enormous risk of slipping and left abrasion marks on the floor. With the use of the herringbone-like UG sole, these problems were solved and it has thus become the standard for very demanding conditions. In a further step, the UG-ESD sole was developed for very sensitive areas of microelectronics, in which an increased carbon content brings about ESD suitability.
It is worth mentioning that all Alsico High Tech boots and soles can be sterilised by autoclaving, gamma irradiation, ETO and X-Ray. Especially for the pharmaceutical industry with A/B cleanrooms this is indispensable.
With the cleanroom boots and sole models, Alsico High Tech therefore offers a comprehensive range for the safety of the products and the safety and comfort of the employees in the cleanroom.
Contact: Fabian Dambacher, Key Account Manager, fd@alsicohightech.com, Alsico High Tech DACH
