Products Finishing magazine is the No. 1 industrial finishing publication in the world. We keep our readers informed about the latest news and trends in plating, painting, powder coating, anodizing, electrocoating, parts cleaning, and pretreatment.
Issue link: https://pf.epubxp.com/i/830013
PARTS CLEANING 30 JUNE 2017 — PFonline.com An experienced staff of design engineers, machine operators, welders and assemblers are required to build each of the company's custom cleaning systems. Once spraying has been completed to remove gross contaminants, the chamber is filled and high-intensity sound waves are introduced into the solution, forming vacuums within the crevasses of the parts being cleaned. Depending on the frequency of the sound waves, contami- nants are removed at the lower end of the scale while material can actually be removed from the part surface at higher exposures. Basically, the vacuums collapse or implode, bringing the solution into contact with the surface in a burst of energy that carries contaminants away. Mills says the company has managed to meet cleanliness specifications down to 50 microns. The types of parts for which this process is well-suited include transmission shafts, turbine blades and medical implants. Ultrasonic cleaning is ideal for precision machining applications with stringent cleaning require- ments. Aerospace, electronics, automotive and medical markets have the strictest requirements. High-pressure spray, a "line-of-sight" process, is primarily used in deburring applications. Whereas sanding or grinding can take away too much material from the part's surface, a high-pressure spray can remove burrs without damaging the underlying substrate. With an upper range of 10,000 psi, the Ransohoff line of high-pressure washers generally operate in the 3,500-psi range for mate- rials such as aluminum and approximately 5,000 psi for parts made of steel. Aqueous systems can be designed to fit almost any part cleaning application and are safer than using solvents, which contain highly regulated chemicals such as alcohol and trichloroethylene and must be operated under a vacuum so that no fumes are released into the working environment. In fact, most of the aqueous solutions we supply are safe enough to go right into the sewer system, Mills says. "It's contaminants introduced by the machining process such as oil, greases and lapping compounds that have to be filtered or disposed of properly." Whatever system is chosen, CTG offers laboratory testing to ensure that the final customer specifications for cleanliness are met. In fact, the company's tech center houses a clean- room rated at class 10,000 using grav- imetric Millipore filters to conduct microscopic particle size analysis. "If a company will provide its required production rate and cleaning specifications," Mills says, "we'll run a