Chemical compatibility: matching the can to the liquid

The container fails when the material meets a liquid it cannot handle. Treat this guide as a starting point, and confirm your exact liquid, its concentration and its temperature before you order.

The four materials, in one line each

• Galvanized or coated steel: hydrocarbon fuels. The zinc coating resists corrosion but reacts with acids and alkalis, and steel is not for food or drinking water.
• Stainless steel, AISI 304: potable water, food-grade liquids and oils. Food-safe, cleanable, reusable. Not for strong acids such as concentrated hydrochloric acid.
• HDPE: a wide range of industrial chemicals, acids and alkalis, subject to a compatibility check. Fuel grades need a permeation barrier, by fluorination or a co-extruded barrier layer. Some grades are food-grade.
• Aluminium: light fuels where weight is the priority. Not for acids or general chemicals.

Material against liquid class

Yes means generally suitable. Check means it depends on the specific liquid, concentration and temperature, so ask us for a compatibility check. No means the wrong material.

Coated steel here means a can lined for what it holds. Bare galvanised steel behaves differently with several liquids, so the table by liquid below rates it on its own.

Liquid by liquid

Ratings for 28 common liquids at about 20 °C, from the published charts listed under the table. Where the charts disagree, the stricter rating is shown. Galvanised steel means bare zinc on the inside; a lined can takes its lining’s rating, which we specify against your liquid. Drinking water is a food-contact question rather than a chemical one, covered in our food-contact guide.

Concentration, temperature, time and stress all move a chart rating, so send us the safety data sheet and we confirm the material, the lining and the gasket. Sources: Cole-Parmer chemical compatibility database; Thermo Fisher (Nalgene) chemical resistance guide; Thermo Fisher (Nalgene) fluorinated products; CP Lab Safety container compatibility chart; Graco chemical compatibility guide; American Galvanizers Association: zinc in organic chemicals; American Galvanizers Association: galvanizing and fuel storage tanks; VDA 267: AdBlue material compatibility; US DOE: handbook for handling, storing and dispensing E85; Methanol Institute: methanol safe handling manual; PRISM research brief: jet fuel and metals.

Chemical resistance chart: HDPE, PP, stainless 304, 316 and carbon steel

This chart rates 22 liquids against the five materials containers are most often made from, at 20 to 21 °C. It uses the makers’ own tables: INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA, a resin maker, for the plastics, and Alleima, a stainless steel maker, for the steels.

Resistant means INEOS rates the material satisfactory, or Alleima measures corrosion below 0.1 mm a year. Limited means INEOS found some attack, or Alleima measures 0.1 to 1 mm a year or flags a pitting risk. Not resistant means unsatisfactory, or more than 1 mm a year, which Alleima calls serious corrosion. ISO/TR 10358, the combined table for plastics pipes, uses the same three classes.

HDPE and PP: INEOS chemical resistance guides, 21 °C (diesel takes the fuel-oil rating; white spirit in HDPE the naphtha rating). 304 and 316: Alleima tables for its 304L and 316L-type grades at 20 °C, or at boiling for the organic liquids it lists only there. Carbon steel: bare, same tables. Where Alleima gives no figure, the Graco guide at 21 °C (A and B resistant, C limited, D not resistant). AdBlue: VDA 267. Carbon steel in caustic soda: OxyChem.

A chart is a screen. For transport, the UN design-type test for the specific liquid decides: assimilation under ADR 4.1.1.21 or a test with the substance itself, set out below.

Read across the rows and the pattern is plain: the plastics take the mineral acids and bleach that corrode steel, and the steels take the aromatic solvents that swell plastics. A resistance rating covers attack on the material and nothing more. INEOS says its tables concern general chemical resistance only, and that permeation, stress cracking and container design call for full compatibility testing. That is why HDPE rates resistant to petrol here while the table above rates a plain HDPE can unsuitable. The polymer survives petrol at 21 °C, yet petrol passes through a plain wall. So a fuel can needs the barrier described in fluorinated vs plain HDPE and compared in steel vs HDPE fuel cans.

The two tables also part where named charts disagree, because the table above shows the stricter of several lab-supply charts. INEOS rates acetone satisfactory with HDPE where Thermo Fisher’s Nalgene guide finds some effect, and Alleima measures 304L below 0.1 mm a year in 96% sulphuric and 86% phosphoric acid at 20 °C. Where sources disagree, specify to the stricter one or test. For hydrogen peroxide, Solvay names passivated 304 or 316 stainless, high-purity aluminium and HDPE up to 50% peroxide.

Bare carbon steel corrodes in water and seawater, and a lined can takes its lining’s rating. OxyChem recommends epoxy-lined carbon steel or 304L and 316L for caustic soda where iron pickup matters, and VDA 267 accepts synthetic-coated metals for AdBlue while ruling out carbon steel.

Concentration moves the steel columns more than anything else. Alleima measures 304L below 0.1 mm a year in sulphuric acid up to 3% at 20 °C and 316L up to 20%. Between 30 and 85% both corrode; from 90 to 96% both resist again, as does carbon steel from 85%. Warm the acid and the window closes: at 50 °C, 96% acid corrodes both grades at 0.1 to 1 mm a year. Stainless 304 vs 316 covers chlorides.

HDPE vs polypropylene chemical resistance

At room temperature HDPE and polypropylene resist the same water-based chemicals, and they part over hydrocarbons and heat. INEOS rates both satisfactory at 21 °C with hydrochloric, phosphoric and acetic acid, caustic soda, ammonia, bleach, alcohols and acetone. Polypropylene shows some attack from petrol, fuel oil and kerosene and fails with white spirit. HDPE is satisfactory with petrol and fuel oil and shows some attack from kerosene.

Polypropylene does better with 96% sulphuric acid and xylene at 21 °C, and its table runs to 100 °C, where 10% sulphuric acid and concentrated caustic soda still rate satisfactory. Bleach runs the other way: INEOS rates concentrated sodium hypochlorite in polypropylene satisfactory at 21 °C, some attack at 60 °C and unsatisfactory at 100 °C, while HDPE stays satisfactory at 60 °C.

For a dangerous-goods jerrican the transport rules tip the balance. The assimilation route in ADR 2025, 4.1.1.21, covers polyethylene packagings only, so a polypropylene can proves compatibility by six months’ storage with the liquid itself, or by another procedure the competent authority recognises (6.1.5.2.5). HDPE properties for containers sets out the polyethylene side.

Four ways a container fails

“Incompatible” covers several distinct failure modes, and knowing which one applies changes what you watch for and how quickly it matters.

• Attack: the liquid chemically consumes the material. Acid on galvanised steel strips the zinc, then the steel. Visible, fast, and the failure people expect.
• Permeation: molecules pass through an intact wall without damaging it. The container looks perfect and loses contents, and with hydrocarbons in untreated HDPE this is the dominant mode.
• Swelling and softening: the liquid is absorbed into a polymer, which distorts, loses stiffness and stops sealing. Common with solvents in the wrong plastic, and it usually shows first at the gasket.
• Stress cracking: the nastiest, because the material is chemically fine. A polymer under mechanical stress, at a moulding line or a corner, cracks in the presence of a substance it otherwise tolerates.

Environmental stress cracking depends on stress as much as chemistry, so a chart cannot predict it: the same material with the same liquid can pass in one geometry and fail in another.

Three variables invalidate a chart, and none of them appears in one. The first is concentration, and it is not monotonic: the intuition that more concentrated is always more aggressive is wrong. Concentrated sulfuric acid above about 93 per cent passivates carbon steel by forming a protective sulfate film, while dilute sulfuric acid attacks the same steel briskly. A chart that says only “sulfuric acid” has told you nothing you can act on.

The second is temperature. Reaction rates rise with it. A useful rule of thumb has them about doubling for every 10 °C, so a material rated at 20 °C may have a fraction of that service life at 60. Hot filling, an exothermic mixture and a black container in the sun all reach temperatures a bench test never saw.

The third is contact time. A container that carries a chemical across a yard for twenty minutes and a container that stores the same chemical for eighteen months are different engineering problems with the same chart entry. Transfer duty tolerates a marginal pairing that storage duty does not, and it is the single most common reason a compatibility answer that worked for one customer fails for the next.

The headspace is a different environment from the liquid

A compatibility chart describes a material immersed in a liquid, and about half of any container is not immersed. Above the fill line sits a vapour phase. For a volatile or oxidising substance that vapour can be more aggressive than the liquid beneath it, because it is concentrated, warm and in contact with a surface that is not being continuously rinsed.

For a container, attack often appears first as a band at the liquid line, where wetting, evaporation and air all meet, not at the bottom where the liquid sits. The closure, the gasket and the underside of the cap also live permanently in the vapour phase. They meet the harshest version of the chemistry, yet they are the parts most often chosen from a generic catalogue.

It is also why a part-full container ages differently from a full one, and why a drum stored on its side is a different proposition from the same drum upright. If a sample is being tested for a compatibility decision, test the vapour phase as well as immersion, or the result describes half the container.

Why permeation and reaction matter

Two failure modes explain almost every row in this table. Reaction: acids and alkalis attack the zinc on galvanized steel and can pit some metals, so the aggressive-chemical column belongs to plastic and, for milder cases, stainless. Permeation: hydrocarbons migrate slowly through untreated plastic, which loses product and breaches fuel-emissions rules, so a plastic fuel can carries a barrier layer and a steel can does not.

Knowing which mode applies also tells you what a trial proves. A short compatibility trial catches reaction, because reaction is fast and visible. It catches nothing about permeation, which needs weeks at temperature and a scale to measure. A supplier reporting that a sample sat in the liquid for a fortnight with no effect has tested one of the two modes and is silent on the other, which for a hydrocarbon in plastic is the one that matters.

The gasket and the closure count too

Compatibility charts describe the container wall. The gasket, the cap liner, any tap or spout and the thread sealant also touch the liquid, and they are usually made of something different from the body.

The common failure is a correct body with a wrong seal: nitrile suits diesel and oils but swells in aromatics, ketones and ethanol petrol, while EPDM handles water and dilute acids well and swells badly in fuel. A can that seals on the bench and weeps a week later has almost always failed at the elastomer rather than the shell.

Where a design is UN approved, the closure was part of what was tested, so a gasket substitution is a compatibility question and an approval question. Check both before changing one.

Concentration and temperature move the line

A “yes” and a “no” in that table are really the ends of a range. A material that holds a dilute acid at room temperature can fail against the same acid concentrated, or hot. Heat speeds up almost every attack and every permeation rate, and a can that sits in the sun runs warmer than the liquid went in. A compatibility answer needs the concentration and the service temperature as well as the chemical’s name. Give both numbers in the enquiry as ranges rather than as single points. A chemical normally held at 20 °C that spends two summer weeks at 45 has been specified at 45, and a dilution usually made up at 10 per cent and occasionally at 30 has been specified at 30. The exceptions are what overturn a compatibility answer, and they are the part a buyer knows and a supplier cannot guess.

The seal fails before the wall

The body is rarely the first thing to go. The gasket, the cap liner and any O-ring in a tap are elastomers, and elastomers have their own, narrower compatibility. A liquid the HDPE wall shrugs off can swell or harden the seal, and a swollen seal leaks or seizes. When you specify a can for anything aggressive, the closure material matters as much as the body, and the seal is the part a cheap can gets wrong.

It fails first for a mechanical reason as well as a chemical one. A gasket is under permanent compression, so a compound that swells has nowhere to expand into and distorts instead, and one that hardens loses the elasticity the seal depends on. Both show up as a weep rather than a failure, usually after the container has been opened and closed a few times. Specify the compound with the liquid, and treat gaskets as a consumable with a replacement interval rather than as part of the can.

Seal and gasket chemical resistance chart: EPDM, nitrile, FKM, PTFE and silicone

PTFE is the only seal material in this chart that resists all seven groups of liquids. EPDM resists dilute acids, caustic soda and bleach and fails in fuels and oils. Nitrile resists diesel and mineral oil, FKM adds petrol and dilute acids, and both fail with ketones and with 50% caustic soda. Silicone rates resistant in none of the seven.

The ratings come from three published tables. The fluid compatibility table in Parker Hannifin’s O-Ring Handbook (ORD 5700, 2007) covers EPDM, nitrile, FKM and silicone. Graco’s chemical compatibility guide at 21 °C covers EPDM, nitrile, FKM and PTFE, and the gasket column of Thermo Fisher’s Nalgene guide at 20 °C covers silicone. Resistant is Parker 1, Graco A or B, Nalgene E or G; limited is Parker 2 or 3, Graco C, Nalgene F; not resistant is Parker 4, Graco D, Nalgene N. Where tables disagree, the chart shows the stricter rating. FKM is the fluoroelastomer family that includes Viton, a trade name.

Parker and Graco rows: gasoline, diesel, mineral oil, sulphuric and hydrochloric acid near 10% (Parker 3 molar, to 70 °C), concentrated nitric acid, sodium hydroxide up to 50%, acetone, MEK, ethyl acetate, sodium hypochlorite (Graco under 20%). PTFE: Graco only.

Three cells rest on a disagreement. Parker rates nitrile satisfactory with petrol and names a nitrile compound for it; Graco rates nitrile not recommended with unleaded petrol, so a nitrile gasket for petrol needs its maker’s rating for that fuel. Graco also rates nitrile not recommended in sulphuric acid below 10%, and FKM fair to poor in hypochlorite under 20%, where Parker rates FKM satisfactory. EPDM’s limited rating for ketones and esters comes from ethyl acetate: both tables rate EPDM satisfactory or excellent with acetone and MEK.

Silicone’s strength is temperature. Parker gives it −115 to 232 °C, against −34 to 121 °C for general-service nitrile, −57 to 121 °C for EPDM and −26 to 205 °C for FKM; Thermo Fisher gives PTFE 260 °C. In chemicals silicone falls short: Nalgene rates its silicone gaskets not recommended in 10% sulphuric acid, 70% nitric acid and 50% caustic soda.

For drinking water and food the seal is a contact surface of its own, and food-contact paperwork follows that surface, as food contact for pails and tins explains. A WRAS material approval holds only while the compound’s formulation, ingredients and site of manufacture stay unchanged (WRAS.Appr-310, paragraph 8): see WRAS approval explained. Fortitude21 holds no WRAS approval. Cap and bung gaskets are matched in jerry can closures and drum bungs and fittings.

What a compatibility check needs from you

Send us the exact liquid by name, its concentration, its temperature in service, and how long it will sit in the container. With those four facts we confirm the material, the closure and any interior treatment, or we tell you plainly that we do not have a safe option.

Send the safety data sheet rather than the product name. Section 7 covers handling and storage, section 10 covers stability and incompatible materials, and between them they answer most of the question without anybody guessing. Where the liquid is a proprietary mixture the sheet is also the only document describing what is actually in it, and a compatibility answer given without one is an opinion about a name.

Chemical compatibility testing for UN packaging

ADR 2025 gives a polyethylene drum or jerrican two ways to prove chemical compatibility. The first is assimilation (4.1.1.21): classify the liquid, find its UN number in the assimilation list, Table 4.1.1.21.6, and read the standard liquid it is assimilated to. Then check that the design type passed its tests with that standard liquid at a drop height, stacking load and test pressure that cover the liquid’s relative density and vapour pressure (4.1.1.21.2).

The standard-liquid test sits in 6.1.5.2.6: samples stored three weeks at 40 °C with each standard liquid, none for water, then the drop, leakproofness, pressure and stacking tests. Results from a polyethylene design may be approved for an equal design with a fluorinated inner surface. On the list, acetone (UN 1090) and petrol (UN 1203) assimilate to the hydrocarbon mixture. Hydrochloric acid up to 38%, caustic soda solution and sulphuric acid above 51% assimilate to water. Hypochlorite solution (UN 1791) assimilates to nitric acid, tested only with a vent. Toluene (UN 1294) and xylene (UN 1307) are absent.

A liquid that cannot be assimilated takes the second route: six months’ storage at ambient temperature with the liquid itself, then the same tests (6.1.5.2.5). A polyethylene design that passed the standard-liquid test may instead rely on laboratory tests showing the liquid does less harm than the standard liquid (6.1.5.2.7). Find the UN number with the UN number packaging finder, check its group in packing groups explained, and send both with the safety data sheet when you ask us for a can. For food and drinking water, see food-grade containers.

Sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide: which container and seal

HDPE with an EPDM or PTFE seal suits both. INEOS rates HDPE satisfactory with sodium hypochlorite and with concentrated sodium hydroxide at 21 and 60 °C. Thermo Fisher’s Nalgene guide finds little or no damage to HDPE after 30 days in 12.5% hypochlorite at 50 °C. EPDM and PTFE are the two seals in the chart above that resist both chemicals.

Bleach also needs a vent. Hypochlorite solution decomposes and gives off oxygen, and NOAA’s CAMEO Chemicals database adds that rust on metal containers can catalyse the change. Under ADR 2025, packagings for hypochlorite solution, UN 1791, in packing group II must be vented (P001, PP10), and an IBC carrying it needs a venting device whose inlet sits in the vapour space (IBC02, B5). Chemical storage best practice covers where it sits in a store.

Caustic soda rules out two metals used for fuel cans. OxyChem’s Caustic Soda Handbook says aluminium, copper, zinc, lead and their alloys are not suitable for handling or storing it, and CAMEO records that the solution attacks aluminium and zinc and gives off hydrogen, a flammable gas. The American Galvanizers Association finds zinc corrodes slowest between pH 5.5 and 12 and much faster above pH 12, and CAMEO lists caustic soda solution as a strong base, so a bare galvanised can corrodes. OxyChem calls carbon steel the most common material for caustic soda at low to moderate temperatures. It accepts 304L and 316L stainless to 200 °F (93 °C) and polyethylene and polypropylene within their temperature limits (stainless 304 vs 316, UN 1824).

A fluorinated can brings no gain here. Nalgene rates fluorinated HDPE fair in 10 and 50% sodium hydroxide at 20 °C, where plain HDPE shows no damage after 30 days; fluorinated vs plain HDPE explains the treatment.

Sulphuric acid in HDPE and in an IBC tote

HDPE resists sulphuric acid up to 80% at room temperature and up to 50% at 60 °C. INEOS rates HDPE satisfactory with acid of up to 80% at 21 °C; at 60 °C it finds some attack from 70% acid and rates 80% unsatisfactory. Acid of 96 and 98% shows some attack at 21 °C and fails at 60 °C, and fuming acid fails at both.

ADR 2025 splits the acid at 51%: UN 2796 up to 51% and UN 1830 above, both class 8, packing group II, packed under P001 and IBC02. IBC02 admits metal, rigid plastics and composite IBCs such as the caged 31HA1 tote. Table 4.1.1.21.6 assimilates both entries to water, so a polyethylene can or IBC whose design passed its tests with water can carry them, provided those tests covered the acid’s relative density (4.1.1.21.2).

Density decides most acid totes. NIOSH gives 96 to 98% acid a specific gravity of 1.84, so 1,000 litres weigh 1,840 kg before the tote’s own mass, over the 1,200 kg maximum gross mass on the ADR example 31HA1 mark in the IBC tote guide. An IBC mark shows no density, so ask for the test report. For a liquid denser than 1.2, a design tested with water must have been dropped from 1.0 m times that density in packing group II, 1.9 m for concentrated acid against 1.2 m otherwise (6.5.6.9.4). A jerrican mark carries the density after the Y: 3H1/Y1.9 covers concentrated acid, and a mark without it was tested at 1.2 or less (6.1.3.1).

Fit FKM or PTFE to the valve and lid. Parker rates FKM satisfactory with concentrated sulphuric acid at room temperature and to 70 °C. Graco rates FKM and PTFE excellent with 95% acid, where EPDM rates doubtful (Parker) or fair to poor (Graco). Up to 50%, Graco rates EPDM good to excellent. The UN approval of the specific design for that substance and concentration decides, so ask for the certificate and test report described in UN packaging certificates and test reports.

Where this maps to our range

Fuels sit in the fuel and gas cans range, water and food in the water and food-grade range, and chemicals in the industrial and chemical range. This guide is general information, not a warranty of fitness for a specific use.

Match the can to the job

We make a can in each of the four materials, matched to the liquid.

Common questions

Which container material handles the widest range of chemicals?

HDPE handles the broadest range of acids, alkalis and salts, and is the default for industrial chemical packaging. Stainless 316 handles a wider range of solvents and high temperatures. Neither covers everything: strong oxidisers and chlorinated solvents need case-by-case checking against the specific concentration.

Can I store acid in a steel jerry can?

No. Mineral acids attack carbon steel and strip zinc coatings quickly. Stainless resists some acids, such as nitric, and fails in others, such as hydrochloric. Most acids belong in HDPE, though concentrated nitric and fuming sulfuric acid attack it, and the can should carry the UN 3H1 marking and packing group approval matching that acid.

Does concentration change compatibility?

Yes. A material rated compatible at low concentration can fail at high concentration or at high temperature, and compatibility charts assume ambient conditions unless they say otherwise. Check against your concentration, temperature and contact time, not the chemical name alone.

Is stainless steel resistant to bleach?

Not for storing it. Alleima’s corrosion tables put grades 304L and 316L at 0.1 to 1 mm of corrosion a year in 5% sodium hypochlorite at 20 °C, with a risk of pitting, and add a risk of stress corrosion cracking at boiling point. Bare carbon steel corrodes faster than 1 mm a year. INEOS rates HDPE and polypropylene satisfactory with sodium hypochlorite at 21 °C, so bleach belongs in plastic.

Can you store acetone in HDPE?

Yes, in a UN-approved polyethylene can whose design type passed the hydrocarbon-mixture standard liquid: ADR 2025 assimilates acetone (UN 1090) to it. Charts disagree on plain HDPE. INEOS rates it satisfactory with acetone at 21 and 60 °C, while Thermo Fisher’s Nalgene guide finds some effect after seven days at 20 °C and does not recommend it at 50 °C. Stainless steel resists acetone even at its boiling point.

Is 304 or 316 stainless steel more corrosion resistant?

316 is. It adds molybdenum, which resists chloride pitting and some acids that attack 304. In Alleima’s tables at 20 °C, 316L stays below 0.1 mm a year in sulphuric acid up to 20%, where 304L corrodes from 5%. Neither suits hydrochloric acid or bleach, and both resist fuels, oils, alcohols, caustic soda and ammonia. Stainless 304 vs 316 covers chlorides and seawater.

What do the ratings on a chemical resistance chart mean?

Each table uses its own scale, so read its legend first. INEOS rates plastics S (satisfactory), O (some attack) or U (unsatisfactory). ISO/TR 10358, the combined table for plastics pipes, uses satisfactory, limited and not satisfactory. Alleima rates metals by measured corrosion: 0 below 0.1 mm a year, 1 from 0.1 to 1 mm, 2 above 1 mm, with p for a pitting risk. Graco grades A (excellent) to D (not recommended).

What container is compatible with sulphuric acid?

It depends on strength. INEOS rates HDPE and polypropylene satisfactory with sulphuric acid up to 50% at 21 °C; at 96% HDPE shows some attack and polypropylene stays satisfactory. Steel runs the other way: Alleima measures carbon steel, 304L and 316L below 0.1 mm a year in 90 to 96% acid at 20 °C, while acid between 5 and 85% corrodes 304L. ADR 2025 assimilates sulphuric acid above 51% (UN 1830) to water for polyethylene cans.

What chemicals is polypropylene resistant to?

At 21 °C INEOS rates polypropylene satisfactory with hydrochloric, phosphoric, acetic and 10% nitric acid, sulphuric acid short of fuming, caustic soda, ammonia, bleach, alcohols, acetone, urea and mineral and vegetable oils. It shows some attack from petrol, fuel oil, kerosene, xylene and concentrated nitric acid, and is unsatisfactory with toluene, white spirit and fuming acids. Heat narrows the list: bleach rates unsatisfactory at 100 °C.

Does a plastic jerry can need a nitrile seal?

Only for diesel or mineral oil, the one column of the seal chart on this page where nitrile rates resistant. Petrol takes FKM or PTFE, caustic soda and bleach take EPDM or PTFE, and acetone and MEK take EPDM or PTFE. On a UN-approved jerrican the gasket is part of the tested design, so change the compound only with the maker’s agreement. Jerry can closures and caps covers cap gaskets.

Which IBC valve gasket suits which chemical?

Pick it from the seal chart on this page. FKM suits petrol, diesel and oils, sulphuric acid up to 98% and hydrochloric acid up to 37% in the Parker and Graco tables. EPDM suits caustic soda, bleach, acetone and MEK and swells in fuel. PTFE suits all of them. Replace a valve or gasket only with parts to the IBC maker’s specification, and read the handle colour code in the IBC tote guide.

What is the OSHA Table 4 chemical resistance chart?

It is the glove chart in OSHA’s Personal Protective Equipment booklet, OSHA 3151-02R (2023): Table 4, a chemical resistance selection chart for protective gloves taken from a US Department of Energy manual. It rates neoprene, latex, butyl and nitrile gloves from very good to poor. Nitrile rates very good with unleaded petrol and poor with acetone. It covers hand protection. For a gasket, use a seal maker’s table or ISO/TR 7620, the ISO report that classifies the chemical resistance of rubber.

What is the EPA chemical resistance category chart?

It is Table 3 in chapter 10 of EPA’s pesticide Label Review Manual, revised February 2016, used to choose the gloves a pesticide label names. It rates eight glove materials, from barrier laminate to fluoroelastomer, as high, moderate, slight or no resistance against solvent categories A to H, where A covers dry and water-based products. EPA says the chart should never appear on a label. It does not rate containers or seals.

Can I use the Cole-Parmer chemical compatibility chart for a storage container?

As a first screen only. Cole-Parmer says its ratings apply to a 48-hour exposure period and offers the chart only as a guide to selecting equipment. A jerry can or drum may hold a chemical for months, often warm. Check the resin or seal maker’s table at your concentration and temperature, and for transport the UN approval of the design for that substance.

What is the difference between HDPE and PTFE for chemical resistance?

PTFE resists more, and at higher heat. Graco rates PTFE excellent with every liquid in the seal chart on this page and with toluene and xylene, which INEOS rates unsatisfactory for HDPE at 21 °C. Thermo Fisher gives PTFE a maximum use temperature of 260 °C against 120 °C for HDPE. HDPE is blow-moulded into jerry cans, drums and IBC bottles; PTFE turns up in their gaskets and valve seals. HDPE vs other plastics compares more.

How do PFA and PTFE compare for chemical resistance?

The charts treat them alike. Thermo Fisher’s Nalgene guide finds no damage to PFA after 30 days at 20 or 50 °C in 98% sulphuric acid, 70% nitric acid, aqua regia, toluene and acetone, and Graco rates PTFE excellent with the same acids and solvents. Thermo Fisher gives both a maximum use temperature of 260 °C, and warns against storing strong oxidising agents in plastic labware other than FEP or PFA, because the plastic turns brittle and fails.

Which liquids suit Viton (FKM) seals?

FKM, the fluoroelastomer sold as Viton, suits petrol, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, engine and hydraulic oil, xylene, white spirit, AdBlue, hydrogen peroxide, and hydrochloric, dilute sulphuric and phosphoric acid. It fails with acetone and MEK and rates mixed with toluene. Ethanol and methanol take EPDM or PTFE, and E85 takes PTFE. Nitrile suits diesel and oils but swells in aromatics, ketones and ethanol petrol.

What does the INEOS HDPE chemical resistance guide cover?

INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA publishes separate guides for HDPE and polypropylene, both dated February 2012. The HDPE guide rates chemicals at 21 and 60 °C, and the polypropylene guide adds 100 °C. INEOS says the tables cover general chemical resistance only, and that permeation, stress cracking and container design need full compatibility testing. That is why plain HDPE rates resistant to petrol in the guide, while petrol permeating a plain HDPE can wall still needs its own test.

What chemicals is stainless steel resistant to?

At about 20 °C, grade 304 stainless resists fuels, oils, alcohols, glycol antifreeze, acetone, MEK, toluene, AdBlue, sodium hydroxide up to 50 per cent, hydrogen peroxide up to 35 per cent and dilute acetic acid. It is the wrong material for bleach, hydrochloric acid, glacial acetic acid and sulfuric acid between about 5 and 85 per cent. Alleima measures it below 0.1 mm a year in 90 to 96 per cent sulfuric and 86 per cent phosphoric acid at 20 °C, but other charts reject both. The table on this page rates 304 against 28 liquids; concentration and temperature move every rating.

What is a chemical storage compatibility chart?

A chemical storage compatibility chart shows which chemicals may be stored next to each other. A container compatibility chart answers a separate question: which material can hold one liquid. In the UK, HSE guidance HSG71 segregates packaged dangerous substances by transport hazard class in its Table 2, and warns that the table misses some reactions, such as acids with hypochlorites releasing chlorine gas. Check section 10 of each safety data sheet as well.

How do you read a chemical compatibility chart?

Find the liquid in the rows, read across to the container material, and treat the rating as valid only at the concentration and temperature the chart states, usually about 20 °C. Yes means generally suitable, no means the wrong material, and check means the result turns on concentration, temperature and contact time. Read the gasket column as well, because the seal often fails before the wall. Where two charts disagree, take the stricter rating.

What chemicals is HDPE resistant to?

Plain HDPE resists most water-based chemicals at about 20 °C: hydrochloric, dilute sulfuric, phosphoric and acetic acids, caustic soda, ammonia, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, glycol and DEF. It fails with petrol, which passes through an untreated wall, and toluene and MEK swell it. Charts split on acetone: INEOS rates it satisfactory, Nalgene fair. Fluorinated HDPE adds a barrier that suits petrol, diesel, kerosene, acetone and MEK. Concentrated nitric and fuming sulfuric acid attack HDPE.

Which metals are chemically compatible with fuels, solvents and acids?

Stainless 304 takes the widest range of the three container metals: fuels, oils, alcohols, acetone, caustic soda up to 50 per cent and DEF. It fails with bleach, hydrochloric acid, glacial acetic acid and sulfuric acid between about 5 and 85 per cent, and charts disagree on concentrated sulfuric and phosphoric acid. Aluminium suits fuels, oils and most solvents, and rates unsuitable for mineral acids, alkalis, methanol and DEF. Bare galvanised steel suits kerosene and solvents such as acetone and toluene, while acids, alkalis, glycol, ethanol and DEF attack the zinc.

What causes chemical compatibility problems?

Four mechanisms cause them. Chemical attack consumes the material, as acid strips zinc from galvanised steel. Permeation carries molecules through an intact wall, as petrol passes through untreated HDPE. Swelling softens a polymer that absorbs the liquid, and it shows first at the gasket. Stress cracking splits a stressed plastic in a liquid it otherwise tolerates. Concentration, temperature, contact time and the vapour above the liquid all change how fast each one acts.

Which container materials are compatible with 50% caustic soda?

Plain HDPE and stainless 304 both rate as suitable for sodium hydroxide up to 50 per cent at about 20 °C, sealed with an EPDM or PTFE gasket. Galvanised steel and aluminium rate unsuitable, and the zinc on galvanised steel reacts with alkalis. Fluorinated HDPE rates lower than plain HDPE against caustic, so it needs a compatibility check. Heat moves these ratings, so state the service temperature when you specify the container.

References

The standards and regulations this page relies on, at their issuing body. Where a market rule is named here, check the current revision before you specify against it.

• ECHA: REACH regulation
• ISO 1043: plastics symbols and abbreviated terms
• ASTM A240: chromium and chromium-nickel stainless steel plate and sheet
• ADR 2025, applicable from 1 January 2025 (UNECE): 1.1.3.6 and Table A
• RID 2025, consolidated text from OTIF; chapters 4.1 and 6.5 are shared word for word with ADR
• NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: sulfuric acid, specific gravity 1.84 at 96 to 98%
• WRAS: Material Approval Guidance, WRAS.Appr-310 version 4.0 (November 2024)
• INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA: HDPE Chemical Resistance Guide (February 2012), ratings at 21 and 60 °C
• INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA: PP Chemical Resistance Guide (February 2012), ratings at 21, 60 and 100 °C
• Alleima (formerly Sandvik Materials Technology): corrosion tables for carbon steel and stainless steels in chemicals, by concentration and temperature
• Graco: Chemical Compatibility Guide for pump materials, ratings at 21 °C (updated 2013)
• VDA Recommendation 267: AdBlue containers up to 5 litres for passenger cars (Verband der Automobilindustrie, May 2014)
• OxyChem: Caustic Soda Handbook (Occidental Chemical Corporation, January 2026), equipment and materials of construction
• Solvay Chemicals: Materials of Construction for the Storage of Hydrogen Peroxide, technical data sheet (08/19)
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Nalgene chemical resistance reference guide (poster), ratings at 20 and 50 °C
• ISO/TR 10358: plastics pipes and fittings, combined chemical-resistance classification table (1993 edition, replaced by ISO/TR 10358:2021)
• Parker Hannifin: Parker O-Ring Handbook ORD 5700 (2007), Section VII fluid compatibility table and service temperature ranges (copy hosted by the University of Arizona)
• ISO/TR 7620:2005: Rubber materials, chemical resistance (second edition, confirmed 2024)
• OSHA 3151-02R (2023): Personal Protective Equipment, Table 4, chemical resistance selection chart for protective gloves
• US EPA: Label Review Manual, Chapter 10, Worker Protection Label (revised February 2016), Table 3, chemical resistance category selection chart for gloves
• Cole-Parmer: chemical compatibility database, ratings for a 48-hour exposure period
• NOAA CAMEO Chemicals: sodium hydroxide solution (UN 1824), reactivity profile
• NOAA CAMEO Chemicals: hypochlorite solution (UN 1791), reactivity profile
• American Galvanizers Association: The Performance of Hot-Dip Galvanized Steel in Water Environments (Fossa and Langill, August 2020)
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Nalgene labware physical properties table (December 2021), maximum use, brittleness and glass transition temperatures and specific gravity by resin

Last reviewed 28 October 2026 by Clarence Cheang, Co-Founder.