Cleaning Up Stainless Steel Parts
January 26, 2010
RD Chemical Company in Hard Drive Housing & Component Cleanup, process
RD Chemical Logo

ChemPolish™ DD For Particulate Removal from 300 Series Stainless Steel

ChemPolish™ was initially developed more than 20 years ago as a final polish for stainless steel sputtering chambers for the semiconductor industry. It has more recently been found to work extremely well at removing particulate from stainless steel used in the disc drive industry.

The particulate count on parts treated in the ChemPolish™ process are significantly lower than parts that have been either simply cleaned, or cleaned and passivated in Nitric Acid. ChemPolish™ has been shown to remove particulate matter normally exposed by cleaning or passivating because ChemPolish™ specifically attacks and removes protuberant particulates. ChemPolish™ removes particulates especially those with jagged or pointed surfaces from the stainless steel leaving behind a smooth shinny surface free of matter which could interfere with the mechanical operation of disk drives.

The ChemPolish™ process is very rapid, when compared to current cleaning methodology and usually requires only a ten minute clean cycle followed by a one minute immersion for final polish, thus allowing much shorter/smaller process lines.

The ChemPolish™ process leaves a brilliant finish, which can approach mirror-like qualities. This finish appearance can be easily utilized to determine if a part has passed through the ChemPolish™ process.

ChemPolish™ Process Line

Process Line
Concentration & Temperature
Time
Heater Equipment
Process Equipment
Exhaust Required
60-90 grams/liter
150°-180° F (65°-80° C)
5+ Minutes

SS - OK
Teflon - ??
Titanium - OK
Quartz - OK

SS - OK
PVC - NO
PolyPro - OK
No
2. Rinse, tap water, cascade preferred, can usuallly be sent to drain with only pH adjustment.
100% by volume
175° ± 5° F (80° ± 2° C)
1-3 Minutes
Teflon - NO
Titanium - OK
SS - NO
Quartz - OK
PVC – NO
PolyEth - NO
PolyPro - OK
SS - NO
Yes
4. Rinse, deionized water, cascade. (May need to be treated for Nickel & Chromium removal)
5. Dry.

Related Products

Article originally appeared on RD Chemical Company - Manufacturing Chemists (http://rdchem.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.