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Agitation of Solvent Degreasing Bath
Q. Using following degreasing sequence:
Hot Immersion ------> Cold Solvent Immersion ------> Vapour Degreasing.
All with Trichloroethylene (TCE). Would like to add agitation to 1 of the first 2 baths to speed up and improve cleaning. The idea is to have a submersible pump (1/3 or 1/4 HP) to provide the agitation.
Would it be a good idea? Better to do it in hot solvent or cold solvent? Any recommendations for the process would be appreciated.
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
August 14, 2012
A. Hi Abhishek.
I think agitation of the work rack would be a better idea. It should be a relatively simple matter to hinge mount some set-down saddles to put the work rack on, and set up a cam to deliver a trip-hammer effect for agitation. I'd put it at the first step because you don't want to leach out the carrier in the first step and then have to deal with the remaining solids in the second step.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 15, 2012
Q. Thank you Ted,
We are using open perforated baskets for degreasing and our parts are relatively small. "Dunking" the baskets would run the risk of probably part dropping.
Agree your idea is good and am definitely going to test it out. Kindly pass me any suggestions you have about the above risk we potentially can encounter.
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
August 16, 2012
Q. We have a 4 stage ultrasonic vapour degreaser being operated at hot (90 °C) --> hot (90 ° C - ultrasonic) --> hot (90 ° C)--> vapour (110 ° C) with TCE.
Know this is way offline so plan to change it to hot (75 ° C - gross cleaning)--> Hot/Cold? (Ultrasonic)?? --> cold (ambient) --> vapour (95 ° C).
Would it be preferable to have Ultrasonic tank as hot/cold? Any recommendations for the above plan??
Basis of thinking is cold cleaning is required before vapour to ensure part temp. is low for condensation & cleaning to occur). Also, since boiling point of TCE is 87 ° C, prefer vapour tank @ 95 (allowance for oil as it would increase boiling point).
- Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
January 23, 2013
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