Cleaning Lidocaine and Dextrose
Q. What Alconox brand cleaner would be best for cleaning Lidocaine and Dextrose?
A. Lidocaine and Dextrose are water soluble 4100 mg/L, pKa 8.01.
Electronics Cleaning – Kovar
Q. What is Kovar? What cleaner would be recommended to clean Kovar?
A. Kovar is made up of 29% nickel, 17% cobalt, .2% silicon, .3% manganese and 53.5% iron. Kovar is known for its low coefficient of thermal expansion. Kovar end uses are usually glass sealing in the electronics industry.
Removing Skin Oils from Materials
Q. Need a suitable detergent for cleaning skin oils from assorted materials; aluminum both anodized and bare, ULTEM, Ceramics, polyprolene, nylon and others. I currently run 160F wash temp and 100F DI rinse water. We are currently using Brulin 815GD detergent. We need to minimize process time. Do you supply any possible replacements? I am afraid I might be etching my aluminum parts.
A. The best detergent for a mix of aluminum and nylon is a mild acid detergent such as Citranox. This will not etch aluminum. Be careful not to mix metals in the same tank with aluminum to avoid galvanic reactions that deposit oxides on the aluminum. Typically Citranox would be used a ½ to 1/3 the concentration of Brulin 815GD.
Cleaning Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors
Q. A customer of mine, who manufactures electrolytic capacitors, has been historically using Fisher Sparkleen in his automatic washer. They wash the aluminum capacitor cans to remove any oils, ionic source materials, contaminants from the can. It is critical that the detergent not add any sulfates, chlorides, phosphates, or any other contaminates to the process. Customer is asking for a spec sheet for Alconox. I would assume that this would be something certifying the levels, or lack of levels of the above. Can you help me with such a document?
A. From Alconox, the product that is sulfate, chloride and phosphate free and aluminum cleaning safe is Solujet liquid low foaming phosphate free detergent.
Chemical Resistance and Alconox
Q. Have you evaluated effects of Alconox on metals, elastomers, thermoplastics, and rubbers? Do you have a chemical resistance table/chart for Alconox? Thanks.
A. Alconox is compatible with a wide range of metals and plastics. You can contact cleaning@alconox.com to receive a copy of the current chemical compatibility spreadsheet. In general Alconox can be used to clean stainless steel, polyethylene, polypropylene, synthetic rubber, and PEEK.