Precision parts cleaning sounds like a technical process that has a lot riding on the final result — and it’s true. Simply put, precision parts are components that have the least tolerance for alterations that affect how they are designed and intended to operate.
For example, a precision part that warps is technically no longer a precision part; its dimensions are imprecise compared to the original design. In an operational capacity, a precision part that contains coatings or residues that impact its function no longer operates precisely, either; rather, it operates imprecisely and may even experience accelerated wear.
This is why it’s important to choose a precision medical parts cleaning solution that preserves the “preciseness” of the dimensions, surface quality, and overall operation of the parts you clean. If you’re ready to select a precision medical parts cleaning solvent, below are four crucial considerations that will help you choose the right cleaner for your requirements.
1. Type of Metal
The type of metal you clean determines the type of cleaning agent you use. Chemicals that are considered corrosive to the metal are avoided. Common examples of chemical bases that corrode metal are ammonium hydroxide, potassium hydroxides, and sodium hydroxide. Common examples of corrosive acids are hydrochloric, sulfuric, nitric, chromic, acetic, and hydrofluoric.
2. Cleaning Method
Precision medical parts cleaning is often performed using an enclosed parts washing system. If this is how you clean metal parts, in addition to selecting a solvent that’s safe for the metal, you’ll select a solution that the washing system is designed to accommodate.
If you’ll clean a part that’s too large for a parts washing system, then you’ll look for a solvent application method that dries quickly, leaves no residue, can penetrate crevices via capillary action, and distributes uniformly over the surface of the part. Aerosol is often a good choice for addressing these requirements.
3. Part Application
The degree of precision cleaning required depends partly on the end use of the part. For example, a part that doesn’t touch skin requires a high degree of soil removal, but a part for invasive surgery may require a deeper degree of soil removal. In either case, no soil is visible to the eye, but even microscopic particles could pose a serious danger in the second situation, depending on what they are.
4. Worker Safety
When it comes to precision medical parts cleaning and worker safety, there are two ethical choices: Use solvents that have known health risks and outfit workers and the work environment with equipment that eliminates the risks, or use non-toxic solvents that require minimal protective measures.
When you consider the cost of high-level personal protective equipment (PPE), a special air filtration system, and the cost of maintaining the system, using non-toxic solvents is normally the most economic route.
Contact Us Today
Ecolink specializes in supplying precision parts cleaners that have a good safety profile for humans and the environment. We supply stock solutions and formulate custom solutions to address unique cleaning requirements. What’s more, we’ll provide you with a free solvent sample, so you can see how a solution works before you place an order.
Call us today at 1-800-563-1305, or send us an email using our contact form. We look forward to supporting your precision medical parts cleaning jobs!
IPA Cleaner Spray: Key Facts to Remember
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersSold on the industrial, commercial, and residential markets, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) cleaner has a wide variety of uses, from killing germs, to cleaning general surfaces, to cleaning electronic components that play a critical role in business operations.
Ecolink offers IPA cleaner spray solutions for industrial applications. These solutions generally have a higher IPA purity than business-to-consumer (B2C) IPA cleaners. The following key things to remember about IPA cleaner spray is based on this fact.
1. Range of Use
In terms of application, IPA spray cleaner is one of the most diverse spray cleaners for industrial settings, highly useful for cleaning general surfaces, removing soils from a wide range of electronic parts and apparatuses, and disinfecting surfaces, tools, and instruments.
However, when it comes to general cleaning, IPA cleaner spray isn’t suitable for all surfaces. Before you begin using an IPA spray liberally, check the user’s manual to identify any materials industrial grade IPA — or IPA of any purity level — isn’t designed to treat.
2. Low Flashpoint
IPA has an open cup flashpoint of 11.7°C (53.1°F; 284.8 K) and a closed cup flashpoint of 13°C (55°F). The flashpoint of an IPA cleaner spray is partly determined by its purity; specifically, what percentage of the solution is IPA, what percentage is water, and what percentage is comprised of another ingredient, and possible more than one.
If you use an industrial formulation, you’re probably using a product with high purity. This means workers should use flame retardant personal protective equipment (PPE) and special storage conditions should be observed.
The Orleans/Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Sciences recommends 99% IPA be “stored in [a] Flammable Area with other flammable materials and away from any strong oxidizers. In addition “Store in a dedicated flammables cabinet. Store in a cool, dry, well-ventilated, locked store room away from incompatible materials.”
3. Highly Evaporative
IPA with a purity of 99% and above readily evaporates in open air, leaving no residue. The high evaporation rate makes the compound great for cleaning electrical components that shouldn’t remain wet for more than few minutes, if not less. The high evaporation rate of a nearly pure IPA formulation also correlates with its easy flammability, which should be considered when establishing a range of use for IPA cleaner spray.
4. Longevity
High purity IP cleaner spray can last for long periods of time in unopened containers. However, as the Orleans/Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Sciences notes, “Peroxide formation may occur in containers that have been opened and remain in storage for more than 12 months.” This is important to remember when ordering IPA cleaner spray. How long containers remain in storage can impact the solution’s efficacy.
Need IPA Cleaner Spray?
If so, Ecolink can provide you with a stock solution or custom formulation quickly and affordably. In addition, we’ll provide you with a free product sample, so you can test its efficacy before the purchase. To get started on selecting the right product, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to helping you choose the right solution!
Stainless Steel Parts Cleaners: Preparing for Heat Treatment
/in Parts Washer/by Industrial DegreasersStainless steel is an alloy that contains at least 10.5% of chromium by mass. Chromium is a chemical compound that gives stainless steel is shiny quality. Chromium is also highly corrosion resistant at normal temperatures, supplying the steel with its “stainless” quality. Depending on the grade of the steel, nickel may also contribute to the alloy’s shine and corrosion resistance.
Preparing for Heat Treatment
Stainless steel’s attractive appearance, excellent dimensional stability, and general corrosion resistance give it many aesthetic and utilitarian uses. Precision parts for various types of equipment are made from the alloy. Freeing them of accumulations (a.k.a. coatings) with stainless steel parts cleaners — particularly in preparation for heat treating — is the focus of this entry.
Before cleaners are selected, it’s important to determine exactly what’s needed to remove the coatings in question. Because chromium readily oxidizes at high temperatures when oxygen is present, stainless steel is heat treated in an oxygen-free furnace atmosphere. However, surface oxidation can occur even in non-oxygen furnace environments when coatings are left in place.
Properly Removing Coatings
Most stainless steel parts require stainless steel parts cleaners that remove coatings of grease, dirt, oil residue, and other common soils that accumulate on parts in industrial work settings. However, you occasionally encounter a coating that a solvent can’t be remove, such as rust resulting from pitting damage that has penetrated the surface of the metal.
If rust were at the metal’s surface, you could one of our eco friendly rust removers to get rid of it. But a deeper accumulation of rust needs to be grinded or sandblasted way, and the area from which it was removed should be buffed until it has the surface consistency of the remainder of the part. Then, stainless steel parts cleaners can be applied to remove lighter coatings that would oxidize in the furnace, such as paint, decals, and the coatings mentioned above.
Flux Residue Remover Necessary?
Unless the parts you must clean are too large to fit inside the heat treating furnace, you won’t apply flux to the metal before placing it in the furnace. The furnace presumably maintains a pure hydrogen / nitrogen atmosphere to prevent chromium from oxidizing. Consequently, no flux is needed to prevent oxidation. This means there is no need to invest in a flux residue remover.
On the other hand, if the parts are too large for the furnace, and they are heat treated in open air with a high-powered torch, flux would be applied to any section of the part that could reach the temperature for the “transformation point” of chromium — the point at which the microstructure of chromium’s surface layer starts to transform into a stable layer of oxide.
Need to Clean Stainless Steel?
If so, Ecolink has stainless steel parts cleaners that may be right for your needs, depending on the grade of the steel and the kind of coatings / soils you need to remove. If one of our stock cleaners isn’t the perfect fit, we can formulate a custom solution that is. To get started on selecting a cleaner for stainless steel, call us today at 800-563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to supplying environmentally preferred stainless steel parts cleaners!
Choosing a Precision Medical Parts Cleaning Solvent: Crucial Considerations
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersPrecision parts cleaning sounds like a technical process that has a lot riding on the final result — and it’s true. Simply put, precision parts are components that have the least tolerance for alterations that affect how they are designed and intended to operate.
For example, a precision part that warps is technically no longer a precision part; its dimensions are imprecise compared to the original design. In an operational capacity, a precision part that contains coatings or residues that impact its function no longer operates precisely, either; rather, it operates imprecisely and may even experience accelerated wear.
This is why it’s important to choose a precision medical parts cleaning solution that preserves the “preciseness” of the dimensions, surface quality, and overall operation of the parts you clean. If you’re ready to select a precision medical parts cleaning solvent, below are four crucial considerations that will help you choose the right cleaner for your requirements.
1. Type of Metal
The type of metal you clean determines the type of cleaning agent you use. Chemicals that are considered corrosive to the metal are avoided. Common examples of chemical bases that corrode metal are ammonium hydroxide, potassium hydroxides, and sodium hydroxide. Common examples of corrosive acids are hydrochloric, sulfuric, nitric, chromic, acetic, and hydrofluoric.
2. Cleaning Method
Precision medical parts cleaning is often performed using an enclosed parts washing system. If this is how you clean metal parts, in addition to selecting a solvent that’s safe for the metal, you’ll select a solution that the washing system is designed to accommodate.
If you’ll clean a part that’s too large for a parts washing system, then you’ll look for a solvent application method that dries quickly, leaves no residue, can penetrate crevices via capillary action, and distributes uniformly over the surface of the part. Aerosol is often a good choice for addressing these requirements.
3. Part Application
The degree of precision cleaning required depends partly on the end use of the part. For example, a part that doesn’t touch skin requires a high degree of soil removal, but a part for invasive surgery may require a deeper degree of soil removal. In either case, no soil is visible to the eye, but even microscopic particles could pose a serious danger in the second situation, depending on what they are.
4. Worker Safety
When it comes to precision medical parts cleaning and worker safety, there are two ethical choices: Use solvents that have known health risks and outfit workers and the work environment with equipment that eliminates the risks, or use non-toxic solvents that require minimal protective measures.
When you consider the cost of high-level personal protective equipment (PPE), a special air filtration system, and the cost of maintaining the system, using non-toxic solvents is normally the most economic route.
Contact Us Today
Ecolink specializes in supplying precision parts cleaners that have a good safety profile for humans and the environment. We supply stock solutions and formulate custom solutions to address unique cleaning requirements. What’s more, we’ll provide you with a free solvent sample, so you can see how a solution works before you place an order.
Call us today at 1-800-563-1305, or send us an email using our contact form. We look forward to supporting your precision medical parts cleaning jobs!
What is TCE Being Used for?
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersTrichloroethylene — TCE for short — is a chemical compound of the halocarbon variety. It is frequently used as an industrial grade solvent for a variety of applications. If you arrived here planning to order a TCE solvent, please be advised that it appears the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will severely regulate or ban TCE due to its negative effects in workers and the environment. Until then, many companies will continue using TCE for the following purposes, among others.
TCE’s most common use is as an industrial degreaser for metal components. For this purpose and the two purposes below, TCE is often used as a solvent to mix ingredients that coalesce to create a high level of degreasing power. Due to its poor safety profile, TCE is being used less for this purpose.
When the EPA regulates TCE, the compound will have little to no use for industrial degreasing. This is why companies and organizations are recommended to start searching for a TCE replacement now — preferably one that can be “dropped in” the degreasing system, without requiring changes to equipment and safety protocols, and may make it possible to outfit workers in a lower, less expensive level of personal protective equipment (PPE)
TCE is also diluted with water or another non-active ingredient to create a TCE solvent whose power is perfect for “tough” cleaning jobs that aren’t as strenuous as many industrial degreasing operations. Diluting TCE may make the compound less powerful in liquid form, but it doesn’t eradicate the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) the compound emits.
TCE is used as a cleaner for aerospace equipment. As Wikipedia explains, “During static firing, the RP-1 fuel would leave hydrocarbon deposits and vapors in the engine. These deposits had to be flushed from the engine to avoid the possibility of explosion during engine handling and future firing. TCE was used to flush the engine’s fuel system immediately before and after each test firing.”
Because TCE is flushed through the engine to the point of overflowing, its toxic vapors pose a significant safety risk to those performing the operation. In addition, unless the is solvent overflow is recycled, it could drive up the cost of chemical waste disposal significantly.
Need a TCE Replacement?
If so, now is the time to act — before the EPA regulates TCE, and it can no longer be used for industry — and Ecolink is the perfect place to find a TCE replacement.
Depending on how and why you use TCE, we have several stock solutions that may offer exactly what you need. If not, we can create a custom solvent that’s tailored to your unique requirements. Regardless of what you plan to order, we’ll send you a free test sample, so you can see how the solvent works firsthand — no strings attached.
To learn more about TCE replacement, call us today at 800-563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to helping you find an eco friendly TCE replacement!
4 Potential Benefits of Water Based Cleaners
/in Aqueous Cleaning Agents/by Industrial DegreasersIndustrial cleaning agents can be separated into two large groups: Agents that have a solvent base and agents that have a water base — also generally referred to as an “aqueous base”.
Like a solvent base, a water base is used to make industrial cleaner ingredients miscible, creating a solution that has the perfect suspension of active ingredients. If you’re trying to decide whether to use a solvent based cleaner or a cleaner that has a water base, check out the following four benefits of water based cleaners, and compare them to the potential benefits of using solvent based cleaners.
Water is a perfect example of a substance that is inexpensive because it’s so plentiful. The low cost of water often means that water based cleaners are less expensive that solvent based solutions, although manufacturers ultimately determine prices based on the sales and marketing plan.
With that said, even the most cost effective solvents have a higher price than water that’s taken from the tap, and then purified. If you have a conservative cleaner budget, using a water based cleaner may be the best option, especially considering the cost of long-term use.
Like solvent based cleaners, water based cleaners can contain harmful ingredients. However, the base ingredient, water, has no toxic properties and is essential for human life.
Because an aqueous base isn’t a guarantee that a cleaner’s blended chemicals are harmless, choose your solution carefully. For the sake of human safety and the environment, target a solutions that is “environmentally safe” or “environmentally preferred”.
Cleaning solutions that are highly diluted with water tend to have a high flashpoint, which means they ignite in the presence of high temperatures instead of low-level heat. In some cases, water based solvents have no flashpoint and are considered non-flammable. Regardless of the work environment in which you use the product, a cleaner with a high flashpoint is considered a valuable safety feature.
If the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates a water based cleaner, it’s because the solution contains chemical(s) that are hazardous to human health and/or the environment. Unless all of its chemical constituents are highly safe, there’s no guarantee the EPA won’t phase out the chemicals. However, water based cleaners are never regulated due to their aqueous base.
About Ecolink
Ecolink specializes in providing industrial cleaning solutions to companies and organizations across the U.S. We manufacture a wide array of stock solutions and create custom solutions for the unique needs of a particular user.
Whether stock or custom is the right option, we’ll send you a free sample that lets you test the cleaner before you place an order, so you can buy with confidence. If for some reason you aren’t satisfied with the results, there’s no obligation to buy.
For more information about our water based cleaners, please call us today at 800-563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to answering your questions!