SURFACE PREPARATION

The purpose of surface cleaning is to remove deposits that might cause damage through abrasion, absorption of acidic gases, or serve as medium for mould growth.

Simple dry cleaning of surfaces using erasers and sponges requires contact with surface which might also cause alteration of surface properties (flattening, eraser residues). With respect to basic requirement to avoid material degradation an alternative non-contact method might be CO2 snow jet cleaning performed using a Precision Spray Cleaning Pen (SnoPen SP 2000, Cleanlogix).

Artificialy soiled samples of wood-based and cotton-based paper were cleaned by the CO2 snow jet with a carbon dioxide flow rate of 3.0 g/s and a nitrogen flow rate of 1.4 l/s and by the nitrogen jet at the same flow rate. Paralel samples were cleaned by traditional mechanical cleaning methods. The effect of treatment was evaluated by optical microscopy.

The results showed that the CO2 snow jet cleaning effectively removed particles in the lower layers of the paper surface, including interfiber spaces.

The CO2 snow jet cleaning compared with the mechanical dry cleaning showed similar effectiveness without any adverse effects on the paper surface. It was proved that the CO2 snow technique is a suitable method for cleaning common types of paper materials.

Clean Imagineering was able to quickly provide us a CO2 composite spray system as a rental unit to allow us to perform process trials and demonstrate its effectiveness. We only needed to provide compressed air and a liquid CO2 tank.  We had the unit for 2 months and were provided with good advice on initial instrument settings. In that time we were able to devise a safe and effective cleaning process for our sensitive micro-electronics assembly.

High Pressure Technologies, a supplier of High Pressure Testing equipment have been using Clean Imagineering for several years for High purity Cleaning of Pressure Gauges for the Aviation, Space and other industries, using their highly successful CO2 extraction methods. Applications involving high purity gases or Oxygen must be have products cleaned to meet the relevant specifications. Most pressure gauges are tested and/or calibrated by the manufacturer using mineral oils and are difficult to clean using traditional solvent cleaning methods. This is especially true when the gauges use bourdon tube internals where the internal orifice size is extremely small. Clean Imagineering have been able to provide us with cleanliness levels that have exceeded those previously obtained using solvent cleaning and which meet the stringent requirements of our customers.

As a company that produces products of the highest quality, CICOIL chooses Clean Imagineering for the following reasons.

1. Reliability: Clean Imagineering has proven itself by consistently delivering products of the highest quality;
2. Flexibility: Clean Imagineering friendly staff is very willing to work with us to tailor their processes/procedures to meet our stringent requirements;
3. Cost: Clean Imagineering is able to process larger batches than their competitor, therefore providing significant cost savings for CICOIL;
4. Location: This not only saves time and money on shipping, but also allows CICOIL to support our local economy;
5. Knowledge: When faced with a new and particularly hard to remove contaminant, we were able to draw upon Clean Imagineering’s vast experience and knowledge to provide us with a solution.

For Application of PowerSno™ system: It was used to remove silicone oil or contaminants on the surface of nylon material.
For Operation of PowerSno™ system: It is pretty simple to use.
For Support: Clean Imagineering is responsive and provide immediate response and feedback.

The PowerSno rental from Clean Imagineering is efficient and cost effective. The Clean Imagineering representatives make sure to give you all of the necessary information to have a quick and successful rental period. Amanda, David, and Mack provided answers to every single one of my questions throughout the whole rental process. Their combined assistance allowed me to successfully run tests without an interruption.

“AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE”

My engineer was tasked with finding a way to plasma etch polymer optics to meet my customer’s deadline. With Clean Imagineering support and CO2 plasma systems, we achieved our goals. I was very pleased with the customer service provided to us.

Incredibly effective for certain applications. We build high precision laser machines that produce very fine debris that adheres to the surface after machining. Some of our applications typically require overnight cleaning in an ultrasonic with all sorts of chemicals, and the PowerSno legitimately cleans them better in under a minute. We’re amazed. We were skeptical at first, but their sales team helped us test with a few of our samples. Now we’ve had the unit for a few months and are very happy with it.