TechNotes

Q. We manufacture electronics and use Citranox to cleans oil off of a variety of machined parts. However, our Municipal Water District does not allow the disposal of spent Citranox. Can you recommend a neutralization procedure?

A. You will need 0.14 lbs, 0r 2 ¼ oz of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to neutralize a gallon of un-used 1% Citranox solution to a pH near 7. Note that some of the acidity in Citranox may be depleted …

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What is the proper way to dispose of your detergents? Detergent disposal in a proper manner is an integral part of a robust cleaning program regardless of scale or industry. Alconox, Inc. detergents are biodegradable….

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Q. I am seeing a white powder around solder joints on PCBs.  Is this solder flux? We use Detergent 8 for cleaning. Do you know why this is happening and how to stop or remove it?
A. There are several ways of approaching this common issue of solder flux and its removal. For example, One way to fix this problem is to lower the temperature when soldering. In another scenario, a leading aerospace manufacturer studied putting potassium silicate (10 mL in 10 L) into the Detergent 8 bath to act as an inhibitor to stop the formation of these white salts.

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Q. We need to remove RMA solder flux on indium/lead soldered subassemblies. Most aqueous cleaners attack this solder. A. According to the Materials H

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Q: What types of Alconox, Inc. detergent would I use to clean a mold release agent? As an aside, is there any chance I could use the same detergent to also clean copper traces off a printed circuit board?

A: Yes! You may indeed be able to use one detergent in both these cleaning applications. But it will only work if the copper is not in the form of an oxide. Here’s why.

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A non-free rinsing cleaner might contain fragrances that were designed to deposit and leave a fresh scent, or it might contain corrosion inhibitors that are designed to deposit and leave behind an anti-corrosion film.

Alconox, Inc, cleaners are free rinsing detergents and do not leave deposits on substrates after rinsing.

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Q. What cleaner should be used to clean ceramic (alumina) where the ceramic electronic packages that have tungsten, gold, and/or gold/tin metallization? A. 1-2% Alconox detergent in heated ultrasonic followed by a thorough deionized water rinse. Learn More….

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Q: What can I use to replace hazardous acids below pH 1 cleaning?
A: Depending on exactly what you are using your acid cleaning to do, we may be able to help you.

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Q. We are looking for a low concentration surfactant to improve DI water wetting to polycarbonate and stainless steel during an aerated flushing operation for removal of sub-micron surface particles. Our parts are cleaned before assembly – we need to improve a DI-water flushing operation that is meant to remove sub-micron sized surface particulate from inside an assembled gas path (tube). How can we improve wettability of DI water?

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Q. I need to strip a silicon coating from a small coaxial cable. We currently use a heated ultrasonic cleaner with about 1.5 gallon reservoir with Dynasol as the solvent. We need an explosion proof heated ultrasonic cleaner or a recommendation.
A. If you want to avoid having to use an explosion proof ultrasonic with a solvent like Dynasol, I recommend you use . . .

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