Neutral Cleaner - Always Neutral? Application Areas of Neutral Cleaners at The Industrial Parts Cleaning Expert Forum Parts2clean, 23.10.2013

Neutral cleaner - always neutral?
Application areas of neutral cleaners at the industrial parts cleaning

Expert forum parts2clean, 23.10.2013
SurTec Jens Emmerich, SurTec Deutschland GmbH

International GmbH
Overview
Neutral cleaner - What is it?

Application areas
Structure of salt free cleaning systems
Builder-surfactant-synergism
Spectrum of materials
Examples of contaminations
Comparison of one - component and two - component systems
Plant and rinsing technology
Different types of cleaning plants
Cleaning before heat treatment
Neutral cleaner and temporary corrosion protection
Process control - Analytics
Conclusion
Technical Centre 2 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Neutral cleaner - What is it?
Salt free cleaning systems (contains no phosphates, borates or silicates)
Composition of amines, adducts of fatty acids and surfactants
Contains a temporary corrosion protection
Available as one - component and two - component systems
pH - neutral until high alcaline systems
Liquid systems - easy to handle
Suitable for all applications

Areas of application
Application in one - bath machines without rinsing (immediate cleaning)
Application in plants with only one rinsing bath
Application for the finally cleaning of parts
Application as temporary corrosion protection in rinsing bathes
Application in plants with intensive drag in and drag out
Cleaning of parts before heat treatment
Application of vibratory grinding processes

Structure of salt free cleaning systems
All systems have the same structure

Builder (basic cleaner) + surfactant
Organic Builder (salt free Builder)

Amines, adducts of fatty acids
Temporary corrosion protection
Surfactants
anionic surfactants (emulsifier, soak surfactant, intensive foam formation)
nonionic surfactants (Spray- and soak surfactants)
kationic surfactants (demulsifier, could be hydrophobic, foam formation)

Builder - surfactant - synergism
Optimal cleaning result through the coaction of builder and surfactant
The both components have an different consumption

Builder about the drag out
Surfactants about the drag out and the pollution
To mean: More consumption of thew surfactant in the same time
Cleaning efficiency
time
surf surfactant
.

Cleaning of Oily Surfaces
First step: Surfactants of the aqueous phase are diffusing in the oil water boundary (spreading)
and pushing the oil film together to form drops which adhere loose at the surface and could be
removed easily.
Impurities like particles which are dispersed in the oil are removed during the „roll off“ the oil
drop.
hydrophobic pigment (carbon, soot)
hydrophilic pigment (oxides)
builder
splinters
grease, wax, oil, lubricants
surfactant

Second step: The remaining thin oil layer is removed by an displacement reaction of the
surfactant molecules. The builder substances are covering the surface and the particles are
dispersed in the solution. The adsorption-desorption reactions, which are slow reactions until the
steady state is reached, can be accelerated by increasing the concentration of inorganic builder
substances (builder-surfactant-synergism).
The result of both cleaning steps is a hydrophilic substrate surface which can be activated or
passivated by additional cleaner ingredients.
hydrophobic pigment (carbon, soot)
hydrophilic pigment (oxides)
builder
splinters
grease, wax, oil, lubricant
surfactants

Spectrum of materials
Steel
Galvanized Steel
Aluminium
Brass and copper
Magnesium
Cast stell
Stainless steel
Plastics
Glass and ceramic
Sandwich materials
The cleaning will be adapted of the base material

about the pH - value

Examples of contaminations
Organic contaminations
Oil
Grease
Emulsions
Coolant
Corrosion protection agents
Particles
Dust
Splinters
Fibers
Source: Zeller & Gmelin

A removal of pigment pollution is not so sufficient because there is no salt in the
product

One - component / two - component systems
One - component - system

Builder ans surfactant mixed in the concentrate
Easy to handle
Frequent application for immediate cleaning
Handicap
The part of the surfactant will be faster reduced as the builder
Only a slightly increase of the surfactant at dosage a one - component system
Counteraction
Adjustment of a modulare system through a separate surfactant dosage
For example, dosage SurTec 084 or SurTec 086 for a spray cleaning application

One - component / two - component systems
Two - component - system
Builder and surfactant will be dosaged dependent on the consumption
Builder and surfactant are separate to analyse
Builder - surfactant - relation stay on a constant level
The cleaning efficiency stay constant
Applicable for final cleaning of parts
Applicable to avoid an intensiv increase of the surfactant concentration in the rinsing

bathes

Plant technology
Useable for all apllications like Ultrasonic, spray and flood cleaning
The cleaning system will be adapded on the application about the surfactant
Ultrasonic for absolute superfine cleaning
The ultrasonic frequency is dependent of the treadet material (aluminium = 40 kHZ)
Dependent on the pollution and the geometrie of the parts it could be that a combined
application (Ultrasconic, Spray and flood cleaning) makes sense
The plant should be have a lot of bath maintenance systems like e.g.
filters, oil separator, magnet separator, evaporator, ultra or microfiltration

Rinsing technology
For immediate cleaning it is possible to work without or with one rinsing step
Dependent on the demands of the surface an intensive rinsing technology is necessary
The Application of DI-water is necessary to reach a high quality of rinsing water and als
corrosion protection
So more rinsing bathes, so lower the contamionation of the last rinsing bath
(drag out ratio 1:10)
Maintenance of the rinsing bathes are necessary through e.g.:

Cascading of the rinsing bathes
Application of ion – exchange systems and activated carbon filter
Application of reverse osmosis systems

(Schema of a multi - chamber cleaning plant)
Carriage
Drying
Cleaning Cleaning Rinsing Rinsing DI – Hot air
rinsing Vacuum
Filter Filter Filter
Oil separator Evaporator Ion-ex.

Membrane filtration A - carbon
Oil phase

(Schema of a one - chamber cleaning plant)
Filter Filter DI -
Cleaning Rinsing
Rinsing
Oil separator Ion – ex.

Membrane filtration A-carbon
Evaporator

(Tunnel - spray cleaning plant)

(Under pressure boiling, Hydrovac®)

Cleaning before heat treatment
Salt free builder - surfactant - system for cleaning the parts
Salt free builder = salt free corrosion protection in the rinsing bath
It brings a thin amine film on the surface of the parts
The corrosion protection have no nagative influence of the heat treatment
A formation of barrier layers will be avoid

Neutral cleaners and corrosion protection
All neutral cleaners are based on amines and contains an temporary corrosion protection
Dependent on the kind of amine it could be created a hydrophobic film on the part,
this hydrophobic film is not removeable with DI - water
Non hydrophobic corrosion protection agents get lost at the water rinsing steps
Dosage into the rinsing bathes or in the last rinsing step (0,5 - 1,0 Vol.%)
This corrosion protection film will be dry up of the surface from the parts
It is possible to reach corrosion protection times from two weeks until six month,
depentent on the material, the storage conditions and the quality of the water

Requirements of corrosion protection
Application in DI - water
Quality of water: < 10 mg/L chlorides and < 20 mg/L sulfates
Complete and quickly drying of the parts after the clean or passivation
For parts with an complex geometrie it is an benefit to use a vacuum drying
After the drying and cooling the parts should be packaged in corrosion protection paper
Dry parts which go directly to the assembling should be storaged in dry ambient air
Periodic analysis of the cleaning and rinsing bathes (also chlorides and sulfates) are
necessary

Quality of water
Possible ingredients of water
calcium, magnesium
chlorides, sulfates
corrosion Cleaner
Water
natrium, potassium, further salts
salting
different organic
spots and foam

Process control - analytics
Builder
Analysis by acid - base - titration
Drag in of alcaline mediums could be have an influence of the analysis
Analysis of chlorides and sulfates makes sense from time to time (corrosion activators)
Analysis about a photometric method of the phosphate concentration or about the

conductivity makes no sense because there is no salt in the product

Surfactants
Determination of surfactants by photometric method (cuvette test)
Determination of all surfactants (active and passive) in the bath

Surfactants
Determination of the surfactant concentration by bubble pressure tensiometer
Determination of active surfactants in the bath
Air
Surface tension

Surface tension of SurTec 085
bubble lifetime
Surface tension mN/m
Desired value
Concentration of SurTec 085, Vol.%

Determination of corrosion category by DIN-swarf-test
Corrosion test by DIN 51360, Part 2 0
Cast steel - swarts on filter paper
Defined corrosion under specific parameters 1
(time, temperature)
Determination of the corrosion category (0-4)

2
Correlation with the concentration of the

corrosion agent
3

Conclusion
Salt free systems are suitable for all applications
Optimal for cleaning parts before heat treatment
Two component systems for final cleaning of parts
Easy analysis methods
Neutral cleaners are available of the whole pH - range
Important is a centralised viewing of all process steps

Assembly - Surface treatment (cleaning) - following process steps

Danke!
Thank you
SurTec
International GmbH www.SurTec.com

Neutral Cleaner - Always Neutral? Application Areas of Neutral Cleaners at The Industrial Parts Cleaning Expert Forum Parts2clean, 23.10.2013

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Neutral cleaner - always neutral?

Application areas of neutral cleaners at the industrial parts cleaning

SurTec Jens Emmerich, SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Neutral cleaner - What is it?

Technical Centre 2 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Salt free cleaning systems (contains no phosphates, borates or silicates)

Composition of amines, adducts of fatty acids and surfactants

Contains a temporary corrosion protection

Available as one - component and two - component systems

pH - neutral until high alcaline systems

Liquid systems - easy to handle

Suitable for all applications

Technical Centre 3 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Application in one - bath machines without rinsing (immediate cleaning)

Application in plants with only one rinsing bath

Application for the finally cleaning of parts

Application as temporary corrosion protection in rinsing bathes

Application in plants with intensive drag in and drag out

Cleaning of parts before heat treatment

Application of vibratory grinding processes

Technical Centre 4 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

All systems have the same structure

Organic Builder (salt free Builder)

Technical Centre 5 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Optimal cleaning result through the coaction of builder and surfactant

The both components have an different consumption

Technical Centre 6 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Cleaning of Oily Surfaces

hydrophobic pigment (carbon, soot)

hydrophilic pigment (oxides)

grease, wax, oil, lubricants

Technical Centre 7 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

hydrophobic pigment (carbon, soot)

hydrophilic pigment (oxides)

grease, wax, oil, lubricant

Technical Centre 8 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

The cleaning will be adapted of the base material

Technical Centre 9 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Source: Zeller & Gmelin

Technical Centre 10 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

One - component - system

Technical Centre 11 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Two - component - system

Builder and surfactant will be dosaged dependent on the consumption

Builder and surfactant are separate to analyse

Builder - surfactant - relation stay on a constant level

The cleaning efficiency stay constant

Applicable for final cleaning of parts

Applicable to avoid an intensiv increase of the surfactant concentration in the rinsing

Technical Centre 12 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Ultrasonic for absolute superfine cleaning

The ultrasonic frequency is dependent of the treadet material (aluminium = 40 kHZ)

Technical Centre 13 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Dependent on the demands of the surface an intensive rinsing technology is necessary

Maintenance of the rinsing bathes are necessary through e.g.:

Technical Centre 14 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Filter Filter Filter

Oil separator Evaporator Ion-ex.

Technical Centre 15 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Oil separator Ion – ex.

Technical Centre 16 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Technical Centre 17 SurTec Deutschland GmbH

Technical Centre 18 SurTec Deutschland GmbH