New Solvent Cleaning Capability

KDL has invested around £50,000 in a Kerry solvent cleaning tank. This will be used primarily for circuit boards that demand the highest cleanliness standards - generally defence, aerospace, medical and RF products.  The new cleaning process will combine with KDL's existing aqueous cleaning facility to offer a wider range of product cleaning solutions.

The new unit provides two ultrasonic cleaning stages, both with filtration, followed by vapour rinsing and freeboard dry. In the first cleaning tank a mixture of HFE (hydrofluoroether) and a hydrocarbon solvating agent removes gross contamination from the components. During the second stage pure HFE distillate removes any residues carried over from the primary cleaning tank. Cleaning is followed by a rinse in the vapour zone above the tanks and then a dwell in the freeboard zone to dry the components.

The Co-solvent process handles applications such as removal of polishing compounds, maintenance cleaning of power generation system components and the highest level of flux removal from PCBs, including both no-clean and lead-free solder flux residues.