Passivation & Cleaning » Ultrasonic Cleaning Services

Ultrasonic Cleaning Services

Ultrasonic Cleaning Services

 

Advanced Plating Technologies, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin company, provides precision ultrasonic cleaning services within a wide range of industries including the medical, dental, electronic, telecommunication and heavy equipment industries.  Ultrasonic cleaning excels at removing chips and cutting oils from machining operations and can clean interior cavities and blind holes much more effectively than traditional cleaning methods.  In addition, ultrasonic cleaning services can be utilized in combination with other more traditional cleaning methods including electrocleaning and vapor degreasing to provide a custom cleaning protocol tailored to the specific application.


Advanced Plating Technologies currently can provide your company a wide range of ultrasonic cleaning services utilizing both piezoelectric and magnetostrictive ultrasonic units with variable frequencies and intensities.  The solvent and/or aqueous cleaners employed are custom matched to the specific alloy and soiling level to ensure the most effective cleaning process.  Multi-stage hot deionized water rinses after ultrasonic cleaning can also be used to provide the cleanest possible surface.

Ultrasonic cleaning services are an integral part of Advanced Plating Technologies precision passivation of titanium and medical alloys. When passivating critical medical alloys the cleaning, passivating and rinsing steps can all incorporate ultrasonic generation.  These techniques ensure the most precise passivation processes possible especially on micro parts with blind or thru-hole features.  Custom packaging services including vacuum or nitrogen sealed packaging can be provided to complement our ultrasonic cleaning services.


How Does an Ultrasonic Cleaner Work? Ultrasonic Cleaning Services

Ultrasonic cleaning involves the use of high-frequency sound waves between 18-80 kHz that are generated by means of an external transducer unit.  The sound waves form micron-size (0.00004 inch) bubbles within the solution that grow due to the alternation of the ultrasonic waves.  The bubbles increase in size until they reach a resonant dimension that is a function of the frequency of the ultrasonic transducer.

 

Once the bubble reaches the resonant size it will cavitate or implode at the surface of a part held within the cleaning unit.  The cavitation of the tiny bubbles Ultrasonic Cleaning Services is what makes ultrasonic cleaning so powerful.  The pressures during the cavitation event can approach 50,000 psi with significantly elevated local temperatures.  The implosion event is on such a small scale that no physical damage to the object being cleaned occurs.

The imploding “scrubbing bubbles” of the ultrasonic process greatly enhance the efficacy of the cleaning solution used with ultrasonic units.  The surfactants or wetting agents reduce the surface tension of the water, enabling more effective wetting of the part, and the detergents bind the soils once removed from the surface of the part.  The cleaning systems utilized are largely a function of the metal being cleaned with proprietary inhibitors used on delicate amphoteric metals such as aluminum or zinc.  A finishing engineer at our company can recommend a cleaner and ultrasonic cleaning protocol to match your specific alloy and cleaning application.


Ultrasonic Cleaning Services – Advanced Plating Technologies’ Capabilities 

Specifications:
Most Company Specifications

Substrates Cleaned:

Ferrous: All Ferrous Alloys Including Mild Steel, Stainless Steels, Hardened Steels & Tool Steels
Note: Alloys other than corrosion resistant require inhibit post-clean to avoid flash rusting
Cuprous: All Cuprous Alloys Including Pure Copper, Copper Alloys Including Tellurium & Beryllium, Brass, Nickel-Silver
Aluminum: All Aluminum Alloys Including Wrought, Cast and Proprietary Alloys (MIC-6)
Exotics: Inconel, Pure Nickel (Nickel 200), Cobalt-Chrome (MP35N), Kovar, Monel, Hastalloy, Monel, Lead
Zinc: All Cast or Wrought Alloys

Part Size Limitations: 20 Inches x 22 Inches x 8 Inches

Methods:
Rack
Basket/Tray
Sheet Product (Chemically Milled/Etched Sheets)
Segmented Strips (Frets)