Component cleaning – as clean as necessary, as economical as possible

- Achieve higher quality and efficiency through optimal cleaning solutions
- parts2clean presents the latest technology and trends

Cleaning components and surfaces costs money. The required effort depends significantly on the cleanliness requirements. But regardless of whether it is a simple degreasing or a cleaning task with specifications for technical cleanliness, to achieve the necessary quality in a process-secure, fast, and economical manner, other factors besides the cleaning system play a role: from selecting the appropriate cleaner and cleaning ratio, through bath maintenance, to packaging the cleaned parts. Information on this is provided by parts2clean from June 9 to 11, 2015, at the Stuttgart trade fair grounds.

“Whether automotive and supplier industry, medical technology, aerospace, precision mechanics, optics, or electronics – high requirements for component cleanliness must be met in practically all industries today. This requires significantly more effort for cleaning,” reports Olaf Daebler, Managing Director of parts2clean at Deutsche Messe AG. To be on the safe side, the solution is often “as clean as possible,” which comes at the expense of cost-effectiveness and thus competitiveness. A remedy here is a cleaning solution designed according to requirements, which can optimize the cleaning result and reduce costs. “As an international leading trade fair, parts2clean offers a comprehensive range that covers all areas of industrial part cleaning, from systems and media to bath maintenance, analytics for cleanliness control, to corrosion protection, preservation, and packaging,” explains Daebler.

Design cleaning solutions to be process-secure and efficient

Wet chemical cleaning processes are the preferred method for most cleaning tasks in industry. The solvent properties of the cleaning medium used significantly influence operating costs, quality, and stability of the cleaning process. The principle when choosing it is: “Like dissolves like.” This means: For mineral oil-based (non-polar) contamination, such as machining oils, fats, and waxes, solvents are typically used. For water-based (polar) contaminants, such as cooling and lubricating emulsions, polishing pastes, additives, salts, abrasives, and other solids, aqueous cleaners are usually employed. Modified alcohols, with balanced fat- and water-soluble properties, are capable of removing both non-polar and polar contaminants.

There is no fundamental rule for the optimal coordination of the cleaning process as well as plant and process technology. It results from considering the entire production. The following criteria play a role: What materials are being processed? Where in production are the parts contaminated and with what? Do contaminants need to be removed immediately, for example, to prevent interference with the next processing step? Is the processing done with different auxiliary substances, whose mixing could cause cleaning problems? Does cleaning parts made from different materials, such as aluminum, steel, titanium, hard metal, and ceramics, in one system pose a risk of cross-contamination? Based on the answers, an optimal cleaning solution can be developed from the perspectives of results and costs.
The choice of the goods carrier or workpiece holder also has a decisive influence on the quality and costs of the cleaning process. Furthermore, effective filtration and separation systems, such as oil separators, particle filters, membrane filters, as well as water treatment and, for solvents, distillation performance, help extend bath life and reduce disposal costs. For aqueous media, continuous monitoring of cleaner component concentrations ensures that a bath change is not carried out too early for safety reasons or only when insufficient component cleanliness causes problems in subsequent processes.

Know-how around component and surface cleaning

As the only trade fair worldwide with an exclusive focus on industrial parts and surface cleaning, parts2clean not only offers a market-oriented and representative range but also provides extensive know-how through its three-day technical forum. Presentations on various topics related to industrial parts and surface cleaning are translated simultaneously (German-English/English-German).

Surface technology trade fair of Deutsche Messe AG – upcoming dates

The next surface technology trade fair in Germany is SurfaceTechnology during HANNOVER MESSE from April 13 to 17, 2015. The next parts2clean is scheduled from June 9 to 11, 2015. O&S and parts2clean 2016 are planned for May 31 to June 2. The next international trade fairs with surface technology involvement are SurfaceTreatment EURASIA with a parts2clean pavilion from February 12 to 15, 2015, in Istanbul, Turkey, and for the first time, Surface Technology NORTH AMERICA (parallel to IMTS) from September 12 to 17, 2016.