NEWS // FEATURES // NEW PRODUCTS
Defining and evaluating a cleaning process; a step-by-step approach
By Tom Forsythe, Vice President of Kyzen Corporation W 20 EIU
hen you hear someone mention a cleaning system, often that conjures up the image of a piece of equipment, perhaps a large piece of equipment. Today we’re going to take a different
perspective and consider a cleaning system in a different light. We’re going to outline all the parts of the entire cleaning system and briefly discuss their importance to the overall cleaning process. Where is one to begin? Oddly enough, the first step in defining a cleaning process begins with your operation. It starts with evaluating the substrate or assembly to be cleaned and the soil to be removed. Stencils are generally easier to clean than assemblies, but they also tend to be more sensitive to elevated temperatures. Raw paste is generally easier to clean than post-reflow and as you would expect, no clean residues are more difficult to clean than OA/water soluble residues. Why do you start with the soil and the part? Those two items drive the entire cleaning process. The size of
the items to be cleaned obviously drives the size of the cleaning machine wash chamber ~ the units to be cleaned need to fit inside! More critically, the parts and the soil drive the selection of the cleaning agent. Just like at home where we use an array of different cleaning materials for different chores: washing the car, dishes, clothes, even your teeth, the same goes in any manufacturing operation. In electronics today, aqueous cleaning materials ~ concentrates diluted with water by the user ~ are most common throughout the world. These materials range from older, corrosive, hazardous products to much safer, mild pH, yet very effective new technology. If you are starting from the beginning or looking to update your existing process, there is rarely a need for those older more hazardous materials. Go green! Going green sounds good, but how? You start out by
matching your soils and substrates to the best fit cleaning agent. While this sounds hard, it is quite easy. Of course there is a range of cleaning material manufacturers. Some know the match immediately, since they only sell one or very few products; the old one size fits all approach. Of course that is more about you matching them, than their
www.electronicscomponentsworld.com /
www.electronicsproductionworld.com March 15th 2012
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