Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B08—CLEANING
  • B08B—CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
  • B08B3/00—Cleaning by methods involving the use or presence of liquid or steam
  • B08B3/04—Cleaning involving contact with liquid
  • B08B3/10—Cleaning involving contact with liquid with additional treatment of the liquid or of the object being cleaned, e.g. by heat, by electricity or by vibration
  • B08B3/12—Cleaning involving contact with liquid with additional treatment of the liquid or of the object being cleaned, e.g. by heat, by electricity or by vibration by sonic or ultrasonic vibrations

Definitions

• the invention relates to improvements in the known ultrasonic cleaning technology for detaching stubborn dirt of various origins from the surface of hard materials by sonication in liquid baths.
• washing or cleaning liquids are, on the one hand, aqueous media, but to a large extent liquid halogenated hydrocarbons -
• the CKW (chlorinated hydrocarbons) and FKW (fluorocarbons) - used, aqueous media are used to remove primarily water-soluble substances, such as hardness salts, water-based lapping, polishing and grinding pastes, complex soiling of various kinds and also for the complete washing off of pigment-like dust-like residues of parts that have been degreased using CHC.
• CHCs are primarily used for degreasing and de-oiling machined parts, washing off easily soluble polishing pastes and other contaminants that are soluble in CHCs, CFCs are largely used for washing printed circuit boards after soldering, for washing off complex soiling, especially in the form of emulsions from HFC and water and for other applications.
• aqueous media are particularly interesting tools for the area concerned because the use of halogenated hydrocarbons of the type concerned here is becoming increasingly common in industry and technology.
• An extensive exchange of such organic cleaning or treatment baths for aqueous media could become of considerable importance in the future.
• a serious obstacle, however, is the often limited effectiveness of the cleaning effect triggered by the action of ultrasound in the aqueous bath.
• the use of halogenated hydrocarbons appears to be indispensable for a large number of soils.
• there are a variety of cleaning problems that, based on current knowledge, cannot be solved with any of the known techniques in the ultrasonic cleaning process.
• the invention is based on the object of substantially improving processes of the type mentioned which work with aqueous surfactant baths as the liquid phase.
• the invention thus intends to open up new areas for the technique of ultrasonic cleaning, which is known per se, and on the other hand, it is a partial task of the invention to improve the effectiveness of ultrasonic cleaning in an aqueous surfactant liquor in such a way that the halogenated hydrocarbon liquors can be replaced by aqueous treatment media.
• the technical solution of the process according to the invention is based on the knowledge that a preparatory partial aspect of the overall process is of crucial importance for the cleaning result to be finally set, especially when working with aqueous surfactant liquors.
• the most general version of the invention relates to a method for cleaning hard material surfaces by treating them with ultrasound in aqueous surfactant baths.
• the new method is characterized in that the surfaces to be cleaned are so intensively wetted with a surfactant-containing liquid phase at least before a final sonication stage that the residual air adhering to the surface microstructure and the contaminated areas is at least largely displaced.
• the method according to the invention is suitable for accelerating the detachment of dirt and / or for removing dirt which otherwise cannot be removed or can only be removed incompletely under the action of ultrasound.
• the surface to be cleaned is wetted intensively with a surfactant-containing liquid phase before displacement or at least before a final sonication stage, with the microdisperse residual air being displaced, cleaning tasks can be solved with aqueous media which up to now have not appeared accessible to any technology of ultrasonic cleaning. This can be seen from the example described below.
• the metal parts are coated by film-forming polymers from the aqueous phase, see, for example, GB-PS 15 38 911, 11 30 687, 15 59 118 and 14 67 151.
• GB-PS 15 38 911, 11 30 687, 15 59 118 and 14 67 151 For good adhesion of the coating the purity of the metal surface is of great importance.
• the removal of carbon from steel surfaces poses particular problems. The carbon is deposited on the surface during the heat treatment of the steel parts, for example in the case of leaf springs in the automotive industry. Since the coating does not adhere to the carbon-containing surfaces, the carbon must be removed.
• the effect of ultrasound of the technical frequencies customary today does not have to mean any or no significant relief in the removal of microdisperse residual air in the problem areas.
• the sustained and, in particular, continuous action of ultrasound on the workpiece to be cleaned can accordingly not be cleaning-enhancing, but rather self-inhibiting.
• the displacement of the microdispersed residual air required according to the invention takes place through the suitably selected play of forces of the wetting process known per se, which can thus even become the time-determining step of the cleaning process under the influence of ultrasound.
• the effect of ultrasound can influence this wetting process, but not necessarily accelerate it. Areas of dirt contaminated with water and tenside are evidently removed almost immediately when exposed to sound. Then, however, it is necessary for the wetting liquid phase to penetrate further into the deep structure of the dirt to be removed and for the air, which is held here microdispersed, to be displaced before further cleaning results can become visible through the action of sound.
• the technical solution to the problem on which the invention is based lies in the correct combination of the forces, which can be subsumed on the one hand by the concept of wetting in the conventional sense and on the other hand by the concept of surface cleaning by the action of ultrasound, in particular using the cavitation forces caused thereby.
• the wetting process for displacing this residual air is carried out at least in part with the exclusion of ultrasound.
• the cycle of nets and subsequent sonication can be repeated one or more times to remove stubborn stains.
• the stages of wetting and sonication can take place under the same process conditions - in particular with the same surfactant-containing liquid phase at a fixed process temperature - but it can also be preferred according to the invention to carry out these stages of wetting and sonication under different conditions, depending on the respective process purpose are optimized.
• temperatures in the range up to 90 ° C. preferably in the range from about 35 to 70 ° C.
• temperatures in the range up to 90 ° C. can be used, whereby it is often sufficient to use temperatures in the range from about 35 to 50 ° C.
• Another way of increasing the wetting process in the direction of displacing unwanted residual air is to increase the surfactant concentration in the liquid phase during the wetting stage.
• the invention provides in particular for working with different baths in the stages of wetting and ultrasound treatment.
• the wetting process can take place in a comparatively high-surfactant bath.
• the wetted article is then transferred to a low-surfactant or even surfactant-free aqueous bath, where it is exposed to the action of ultrasound.
• the piece of material to be cleaned can also be provided according to the invention to expose the piece of material to be cleaned to laminar and / or preferably turbulent flow in the wetting stage, so that in particular the liquid film touching the solid surface is additionally exposed to mechanical forces.
• the preferred embodiment of the action according to the invention provides that the duration of the respective sonication phases is limited.
• the uninterrupted action of ultrasound on the workpiece to be cleaned and immersed in the liquid phase lasts at most about 10 minutes, but is preferably for much shorter periods, e.g. in the range of about 0.2 to 5 minutes.
• the reason for this is the discovery that wetted dirt particles are almost immediately removed under the influence of ultrasound. If cleaning is not yet sufficient, it is more correct to continue wetting in the absence of ultrasound than to extend the ultrasound treatment.
• the duration of an individual sonication period within the overall process can be comparatively short.
• time spans in the seconds range for example 5-60 seconds, are often sufficient.
• a sonication period will not be longer than about 5 minutes.
• Preferred values for the duration of each sonication phase are in the range from approximately 2 to 200 seconds and in particular in the range from approximately 3 to 120 seconds.
• the duration of the network stages that follow the respective public address phase in the case of multiple sound systems are determined by the parameters used in the network and thus the network intensity.
• the duration of the network stages can be chosen to be shorter overall, approximately the same or longer than the sum of the public address stages.
• the duration of the network stages used overall corresponds at least approximately to the duration of the sound reinforcement stages, the period for wetting also being able to make up several times the total period spent for the sound reinforcement.
• wetting and sonication are carried out with aqueous baths which can have the same or, as indicated, different compositions.
• aqueous baths which can have the same or, as indicated, different compositions.
• the use of other auxiliaries for displacing the microdisperse residual air can be expedient.
• the admixture of water-soluble organic liquid phases and / or the use of other washing or cleaning power boosters are considered, as are known from the relevant literature in the field of metal cleaning and / or textile washing.
• An important aid in this sense is the use of soluble electrolyte salts, for example sodium sulfate.
• the wetting effect of a given aqueous surfactant liquor and thus the displacement of the microdisperse residual air can be increased significantly by adding considerable amounts of such soluble electrolyte salts in the wetting stage.
• amounts of the electrolyte salts of at least 2, preferably at least 10 grams per liter are suitable.
• the upper limit is the solubility of the respective electrolyte salt, usually in amounts of about 80 grams per liter, preferably in amounts of about 50 grams per liter.
• Acid, neutral or alkaline treatment baths can be used both in the wetting stage and in the sonication.
• wetting in weakly acidic to neutral baths can be particularly useful.
• the use of non-corrosive aids to adjust the pH is preferred.
• a suitable means for setting weakly acidic pH values in the bath are, for example, multifunctional lower carboxylic acids of the type of oxalic acid, citric acid, maleic or fumaric acid and the like.
• Suitable surfactants, emulsifiers, detergent boosters and / or other auxiliaries for improved wetting are selected in coordination with the selected conditions of the network stage. Again, the use of cationic surfactants has proven to be particularly effective for wetting metal surfaces. In addition to or instead of the cationic surfactants, nonionic surfactant components or detergency boosters are of particular importance in the context of the teaching according to the invention. As is well known, the chemistry of detergent-active surfactants has found particular development in the context of textile washing. The relevant literature provides extensive information on suitable surfactant components for aqueous surfactant liquors and in particular also on the class of the cationic and / or nonionic, preferably water-soluble, surfactant compounds.
• Suitable surfactant contents for the wetting process stage are, for example, in the range of about 0.5 g active substance (AS1 / I to 10g AS / I. However, even higher surfactant concentrations can be used if this is helpful in individual cases for penetrating ventilation Usual surfactant levels can range from about 0.5 g ai / 1 to about 5 g ai / 1.
• the surfactant levels during the sonication step can be in the same ranges, although they are far less critical here aqueous and surfactant-wetted and still wet piece of material is introduced into a per se surfactant-free aqueous liquor and sonicated there, so that ultimately a surfactant content builds up only by surfactant transfer in the sonication stage.
• the range known and used today comes into consideration.
• Preferred frequencies in the sound system are thus in the range up to approximately 100 kHz, the range from approximately 20 to 60 kHz and in particular the range from approximately 20 to 40 kHz can be particularly suitable.
• the power input or the power density in the sonicated bath volume is also at the values customary today, for example at values up to about 25 W / I and in particular in the range up to about 15 W / t.
• the method according to the invention is also particularly and particularly suitable for the removal of water-insoluble or water-difficultly soluble impurities under the action of ultrasound in aqueous surfactant liquors.
• This covers both large areas of grease or oil contamination up to insoluble solid contamination, which are apparently not detachably firmly attached to the surface of the solid material.
• the carbon impurities that have escaped from the corresponding metal surfaces during tempering are an example of this.
• Other examples are firmly adhering residues from metal processing or machining, such as firmly adhering residues from polishing pastes, drawing agents or any complex soiling from use.
• the method of the invention is not limited to the cleaning of metal parts, it is generally suitable for cleaning hard materials, in addition to metals, in particular for molded parts made of plastic, glass, ceramics and the like.
• unusually stuck soiling from the use of the molded plastic part can be present on plastic parts in particular, which cannot be completely removed in the previous practice of ultrasonic cleaning.
• the cycle of netting and sonication according to the invention which can be repeated as often as required and, in particular, cuts back on the cycles of the sonication stages to a minimum in terms of their time, can achieve satisfactory cleaning results with reduced energy and time expenditure.
• Truck leaf springs from technical production with a surface contaminated with carbon deposits are used as the basis for the investigations.
• the steel sample was first wetted by immersing it in the surfactant solution for the period specified and then treated with ultrasound. For easier assessment of the cleaning success, only half of the steel sheets were immersed in the cleaning solutions.
• the wetting times and the duration of the ultrasound exposure were each 1 minute.
• the tests are carried out in an ultrasonic bath from Bandelin electronic, Berlin, bath volume 2.5 I, frequency 35 kHz.
• the removal of the carbon deposits was assessed visually by comparing the immersed part with the untreated piece of metal and rated on a scale from 0 to 6. The value "0" is assigned to an untreated metal part, while “6” means the complete removal of the carbon deposit.
• Lauryltrimethylammonium chloride (Dehyquart LT) and laurylpyridinium bisulfate (Dehyquart D) from the class of the cationic surfactants were used.
• Nonylphenoloctaglycolether (NP8) was used as the nonionic surfactant.
• Citric acid is used to adjust the weakly acidic pH in the bath.
• the cleaning performance of the acid compared to the carbon deposits is only slight and increases only slightly with an increased citric acid concentration.
• citric acid concentration When trying to work with baths containing sulfuric acid, increased corrosion tendency is observed.
• the bath temperature is increased from 25 ° C to 40 ° C. This improves cleaning performance. A further increase in temperature to 60 ° C did not lead to a significant improvement in the already good carbon removal. However, an increased tendency for corrosion of the metal parts is observed. All other attempts to optimize carbon removal are therefore carried out at 40 ° C.
• the temperature dependence of the cleaning performance is summarized in Table 2 below.

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• Cleaning By Liquid Or Steam (AREA)
• Cleaning And De-Greasing Of Metallic Materials By Chemical Methods (AREA)
• Detergent Compositions (AREA)

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• 1987
  • 1987-08-28 DE DE19873728771 patent/DE3728771A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 1988
  • 1988-08-20 DE DE8888113539T patent/DE3861366D1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1988-08-20 EP EP88113539A patent/EP0305827B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-08-26 ZA ZA886373A patent/ZA886373B/xx unknown
  • 1988-08-27 KR KR1019880010946A patent/KR890003456A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1988-08-29 JP JP63214748A patent/JPH0192391A/ja active Pending

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