Published: March 5, 2018
Q. We have heard that Alconox is recommended for cleaning of glass molds. Other than release agent, can the product also remove oxidation from the mold surface? And finally, why is the concentration on the Alconox detergent only 1-3% when we typically use concentrations of 20-30% when cleaning molds with sodium or potassium hydroxide based chemicals?
A. Alconox® Powdered Precision Cleaner is what we traditionally recommend for mold release cleaning applications, but many also find our recently released Detonox® Ultimate Precision Cleaner to be particularly effective. It is an even stronger emulsifier.
When it comes to removing oxidation, Alconox or Detonox cleaners may work sufficiently, but generally speaking, acidic detergents would be much more effective than an alkaline on oxidation. In this case, look to Citranox® Liquid Acid Cleaner and Detergent after cleaning with the alkaline-based Alconox/Detonox detergent. Optimum removal of a release agent requires hot temperatures in the ultrasonic bath (75-80C), so be sure the mold can withstand these temperatures. Molds are expected to, but you should certainly verify.
To your final question, the Alconox detergent datasheet, as an example, does recommend 1-3% concentrations, which will sufficiently clean glass molds. The reason for the apparent discrepancy between NaOH and KOH chemical concentrations and the much lower one of detergents, are that strong alkaline reagents only provide a single mechanism of attack. Therefore strength must be high.
Well-built detergents like Alconox or Detonox cleaners, combine many ways to clean, including, emulsification, wetting, dispersion, chelation, sequestration, etc. Generally speaking, much lower concentrations of detergents are needed because of these multiple avenues of robust cleaning mechanisms. Higher detergent concentrations increase capacity or amount of soil to be removed.
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