Learning Center

It was in 1962 during my junior year in high school when my chemistry teacher, Mr. McBain, described an unusual phenomenon related to a specific element.  At the time, I think it was more intended as a test question to see who had studied their notes.     I recently witnessed this phenomenon for the first … Continued

Liquid level sensors are used to indicate liquid level by sensing the presence of a liquid using several different means. The “float” type sensor is the one that probably comes to mind first for most of us.  The float valve in a toilet tank is a prime example. In the case of the toilet, a … Continued

Using the right amount of chemistry is important to successful industrial cleaning.  Since there is no standard convention for expressing the amount of chemistry to use, it sometimes takes a little effort to sort things out.  Chemistry is supplied in either liquid or powder form with several different conventions for each.  Let’s look at liquids … Continued

Although the importance of “degassing” liquids prior to their use in an ultrasonic cleaning or rinsing process is pretty much common knowledge, the source of the gas and details of how to remove it are less well known.  This blog is the beginning of a series which will describe in some detail where that gas comes … Continued

Drying is the last and often a critical part of a cleaning process.  In many cases it is also the most time and energy consuming.  It is often the most difficult part of the process to specify and control.  Although there are several drying technologies available, blowing with hot air is simple and by far … Continued

With its well-deserved credentials for chemical resistance and durability, stainless steel and particularly 316 grade stainless steel is a “go to” for the fabrication of ultrasonic cleaning tanks.  Although it performs well in most applications, there are still those where stainless steel has its limitations.  Stainless steel achieves its “stainless” characteristic by developing a very … Continued

Today’s industrial parts cleaning processes commonly employ at least three distinct steps. The basic steps are Washing, Rinsing, and Drying. Each step is custom tailored to the overall requirement with the range of options for each much broader than one not intimately involved with the technology might imagine. In some processes, in fact, it is … Continued

I will be the first person to advocate cleaning trials in the laboratory as an important step in the development of a cleaning process. I will also be the first to admit that in over fifty years of lab testing I have made (and hopefully learned from) more than a few mistakes made in the … Continued

There’s an old adage – “One Hand Washes the Other.”  Although this adage is seldom applied to cleaning technology, it certainly could be.  In fact, most successful cleaning consists of a combination of chemistry (soap, solvent or whatever) and some kind of added mechanical force to enhance or enable the cleaning process.  If one could … Continued