PRETREATMENT, SURFACE PREPARATION, DEGREASING & CLEANING

There are hazardous chlorinated and brominated solvents, such as Trichloroethylene (Trike), Perchloroethylene (PERC), Methylene Chloride (MECL) and n-propyl bromide or 1-bromopropane (nPB), which pose numerous health risks. However, what many people don’t realise is that there are many safe, non-flammable solvents, which maintain compositional stability during use and have low odour and toxicity levels. And crucially, they also offer superior cleaning performance with the best solvency power in their class. New generation cleaning agents are worthy of consideration as a replacement, including the Chemours™ Opteon™ range. For example, SF80™ from Chemours™ is a drop-in alternative for many of the existing solvents with higher GWPs or poor health and safety profiles.

We look at each job individually, and then advise on the cleaning fluids, cleaning systems and equipment that will provide optimum results for your business.

and low surface tension so along with a pure vapour rinse, they can offer extremely effective results for high precision cleaning, as well as speed and efficiency that shorten lead times and reduce costs. Solvent cleaning systems are ideal for water-sensitive or difficult to dry components. SF80™, for example, is ideal for applications like vapour degreasing, oil and grease removal, precision cleaning, high solvency defluxing, removal of fluorinated oils and grease and silicone removal on sensitive substrates that can be difficult with aqueous cleaning.

When should I use aqueous cleaning?

best removed with an acidic aqueous solution. However, an alkaline solution is better able to remove salts, organic soils, metal chips, and grease and can work effectively within a range of temperatures.

The downside here is that water-based cleaning can require a lot of effort to maintain the correct balance of the chemistry to ensure it continues to perform consistently. Additions such as auto-dosing, and in some cases automatic chemical testing, can somewhat mitigate these issues but come at a cost.

Equipment like the SlimLine PLW 6011 & PLW 6111 aqueous cleaning machines from Miele use aqueous solutions very effectively and are especially effective for flux removal from electronic PCB assemblies, though they are ideally suited for many other specialist cleaning applications as well.

Do solvents clean better than aqueous options?

This is completely dependent on what needs to be cleaned, and to what level. Solvents have good solvency

Aqueous cleaning solutions are very adaptable and in many cases, are better for some applications. With water as the primary solvent, it is possible to add surfactants and detergents, emulsifiers, inhibitors and other agents to tailor the solution to your needs. Altering the pH can remove different substances – for example scale, rust, metal oxides are

We look at each job individually, and then advise on the cleaning fluids, cleaning systems and equipment that will provide optimum results for your business.

For more information on solvent or water based cleaning, please get in touch with Fraser Technologies on 01506 443058 to speak with one of our experts, or visit our website at www.frasertech.co.uk.