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www.us-tech.com Production
Auto-Focus Mighty Scope Stay focused in on the task at hand Order # 26700-203
Change Is Coming to the Cleaning Industry — Again
By Bill Schreiber, President, Smart Sonic Corp., Canoga Park, CA
cleaning everything from PCBs to aircraft engines. For the PCB industry, the elimination of CFC solvents spurred the intro-
C $29500 00
duction of water washable and no-clean solder pastes and switching from spraying Freon and 111-trichloro-ethylene to the use of saponifiers and IPA to clean boards, stencils, pallets and related tooling.
Change from Solvent to Aqueous For those of us “experienced” enough to remember those good-old days,
changing from a solvent-cleaning process that was working to an unknown aqueous-based process was a royal pain. It’s bad enough to research a clean- ing process when you need one, but to have the government take away a per- fectly good process just because Antarctica may get a little too much UV light through a newly discovered ozone hole was tough to bear [Bill Schreiber,
HIGH RESOLUTION Digital Microscopes
zipScope 9M w/Polarizer Cut the glare, clear high-res images Order # 26700-302
“From Maintenance to Precision: The Value of a Stencil Cleaning Handbook”, IPC Review, Vol. 48, No. 4: May 2007]. VOCs to Be Prohibited Well, get ready, because change is coming once again. The Ozone Trans-
port Commission (OTC), an organization of states in the Northeast/Mid-At- lantic region created under the Federal Clean Air Act, is charged with achiev- ing better air quality, in part by decreasing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). OTC has put together a Model Rule for Solvent Degreasing that can be adopted or adapted by individual states.
leaning is once again the focus of new government regulation. The last big change in cleaning came in 1995 as a result of the Montreal Proto- col which eliminated the use of chlorofluorocarbon solvents (CFCs) for
February, 2013
$19500 00
Stencil cleaning operations may get new set of chemical rules. Before you say, “I don’t work in that region, so it won’t affect me,” or
Order # 26700-312
“Who cares? I don’t use solvents; I use water-based cleaning,” think again. The EPA cannot mandate specific rules for individual states. However, it
has deemed that more areas throughout the U.S. do not have acceptable air qual- ity. This prompts a geographically-encompassing chain reaction that is likely to result in lower allowable emissions of VOCs in many areas. [Barbara Kanegs- berg, “OTC Model Rule and Critical Cleaning”, BFK Solutions Newsletter, Octo- ber 2011,
www.bfksolutions.com/index.php/newsletter/archived-newsletters/141- otc-progress-productive-manufacturing-and-better-air-quality]
3D tand $4995 3D Stand 95
Mighty Scope 5M Inspect analyze and measure Order # 26700-209
Similar to California’s SCAQMD The rule contains language nearly identical to that found in the South
Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 1122 in Southern California. The Rule also takes cues from the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District. The VOC limit in the Model Rule is 25g/L. If a company wanted to use higher VOC limits, “airless” cleaning systems would be re- quired. This will have a tremendous impact on cleaning boards, stencils, screens, and pallets in the PCB assembly industry as all cleaning chemicals currently used contain VOCs — except 440-R® SMT Detergent by Smart Sonic Corporation, which is VOC-free. Even chemicals described as “water-based” contain elevated amounts of
$24900 00
VOC solvents and are targets of the OTC Model Rule. MSDS regulations do not require disclosure of VOC content so users should obtain a written state- ment from their chemical provider disclosing VOC content of any cleaning chemical in use, as the new rule may encourage manufacturers to avoid VOC disclosure.
Stencil-cleaning chemicals from several manufacturers contain VOCs.
Some of these manufacturers include Kyzen, Petroferm, and EnviroSense, Inc. Several manufacturers utilize IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) in their cleaning chemicals, including Electrolube, a UK-based company, Sunshine Makers, Inc., and Zestron, a company based in Germany. Many state and federal regulating agencies are notorious for giving short no-
4595 Platt Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48108 734-973-0099
aveninc.com sales@aveninc.com
See us at Electronics West/MDM Booth 4154 and IPC/APEX Booth 3149
tice. The prudent assembler would be wise to take a proactive approach to the in- evitable change that is coming and begin the selection process sooner rather than
later for a cleaning chemical to replace the VOC chemicals targeted by the OTC. Contact: Smart Sonic Corporation, 6724 Eton Ave., Canoga Park, CA
91303 % 818-610-7900 fax: 818-610-7909 E-mail:
Bill@SmartSonic.com Web:
www.SmartSonic.com r
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