Citranox and Plastic

We recently participated in an interesting conversation on the XD Talk forum —  an information resource dedicated to the Springfield Armory’s XD and XD(m) handguns and covering a variety of topics related to other firearms, gun care and more.

An individual was cleaning brass using an ultrasonic cleaner and Citranox. He improvised using galvanized steel to repair a cleaning basket, which resulted in stains on his brass .45 ACP cases that had contact with the basket. Here was his experience and corresponding question answered by our Alconox support person:

QUESTION:

 “I’ve been ultrasonic cleaning brass now for a while, and found a stainless steel basket for my cleaner to compliment my plastic one. However, when I received it, the sides of the basket were open, which would allow the cases to fall out. No problem. I’ll just get some steel wire and finish the “basket weave” up the sides. So I went to Lowe’s, bought a spool of galvanized steel wire, and went to town on building up the sides of the basket.

When it was all said and done, I was pretty pleased with the results of my efforts, so I put a capful of Citranox in the cleaner with some distilled water, heated it up, and loaded up a batch of .45 ACP cases to clean. While the cases in the middle of the basket came out all shiny and clean, everything in contact with the galvanized wire were stained with the “galvanization” of the steel wire. In hindsight, using an acidic cleaner with chemically treated metal should’ve thrown up a red flag or two, but all in all, it wasn’t a bad learning experience.

Having said all of that, does anyone know if Citranox will eat up my plastic basket? After reading the literature on it, I don’t think that it will, but thought I’d pose the question nonetheless.”

ANSWER:

“I am a technical support person at Alconox and wanted to respond to your question; “does anyone know if Citranox  will eat up my plastic basket?”

No, Citranox will not typically attack a plastic basket and I will list the effects on various types below.

If the basket is polycarbonate or acrylic, there is a risk of stress cracking or crazing from the low surface tension of the solution. This would not particularly impair the structural ability of the basket to hold things; there may be some tiny cracks on the surface.

If the basket is nylon, on repeated use, some kinds of nylon will darken and eventually become brittle. This would take many, many uses.

If the basket is rigid PVC, HDPE, LDPE, or other common plastics you should not have any problem with the Citranox attacking the plastic.

There is, however, one issue you may wish to consider. Plastic absorbs ultrasonic sound energy. The ultrasonic cleaner will be somewhat less efficient with a plastic basket than it would be with metal basket. IF the results you are getting with the plastic basket are satisfactory, then do not worry about it. If you get erratic results, then getting a good stainless steel basket may help.

As you have discovered, you cannot make a mixed metal basket without running the risk of making a battery that will deposit dark oxides on your brass. Stainless steel is inert enough that it will not form a battery, but simple steels will form a battery as you discovered.

I hope this helps and good luck with your endeavors. – Malcolm