Trial Purpose:
To evaluate the effectiveness of seven TCE alternatives at removing lubricant from aluminum alloys.
Date Run:
07/26/2017Experiment Procedure:
Pre-weighed aluminum coupons were tested for each aqueous cleaner. Coupons were soiled with Blasocut 2000 Universal Lubricant (CAS: 64742-52-5; 61790-44-1; 68608-26-4; 63449-39-8; 107-41-5; 770-35-4) using a swab to cover the bottom third of the substrate and dirty weights were recorded. Chemistries were prepared with a five percent dilution except for Micro 90, which had a two percent dilution based on vendor recommendations. Coupons were immersed, three at a time, in a beaker filled with 200ml of the chosen cleaner at room temperature (68 F) and cleaned with ultrasonics for five minutes. Final weights were taken after cleaning.
Trial Results:
| Cleaner | Initial wt. | Final wt. | % Removed | Average % Removed |
| SC Aircraft & Metal Cleaner | 0.0164 | 0.0034 | 79.27 | 71.62 |
| 0.0347 | 0.0141 | 59.37 | ||
| 0.0265 | 0.0063 | 76.23 | ||
| Amberclean 527L | 0.1494 | 0.1035 | 30.72 | 59.35 |
| 0.0481 | 0.0181 | 62.37 | ||
| 0.0612 | 0.0092 | 84.97 | ||
| Surface Cleanse 930 | 0.0606 | 0.0072 | 88.12 | 86.54 |
| 0.0900 | 0.0196 | 78.22 | ||
| 0.0819 | 0.0055 | 93.28 | ||
| Micro 90 | 0.0797 | 0.0260 | 67.38 | 59.92 |
| 0.0820 | 0.0422 | 48.54 | ||
| 0.0938 | 0.0339 | 63.86 | ||
| Solution 2000 | 0.0622 | 0.0323 | 48.07 | 56.92 |
| 0.0498 | 0.0154 | 69.08 | ||
| 0.0511 | 0.0237 | 53.62 | ||
| Shopmaster | 0.0634 | 0.0372 | 41.32 | 38.58 |
| 0.0634 | 0.0373 | 41.17 | ||
| 0.0764 | 0.0510 | 33.25 | ||
| Crystal Simple Green | 0.0515 | 0.0054 | 89.51 | 88.88 |
| 0.0477 | 0.0076 | 84.07 | ||
| 0.0532 | 0.0037 | 93.05 |
Ultrasonics improved effectiveness with removing Blasocut 2000 Universal Lubricant from the aluminum coupons. Crystal Simple Green, which was the only positive removal % after unheated immersion for five minutes, looked visually clean and had the highest percent removal.
Success Rating:
Preliminary compatibility tests on substrate coupons encouraging for at least one cleaning chemistry. More in-depth laboratory testing necessary.Conclusion:
Surface Cleanse 930 and Crystal Simple Green were both effective at removing Blasocut 2000 Universal Lubricant. The other aqueous cleaners showed improvement at removing the soil, but more time may need to be added to see effective removal. Next step would be to increase the time of cleaning.
