Acidic cleaning chemistries were discussed in a preceding blog. Now let’s talk about the second of the three classifications of chemistry we defined – caustics. Caustics are materials that are basic as opposed to acidic in nature. The use of caustics for cleaning, especially for removing oils and greases, can be traced to the ancients. …
A few days ago, one of our customers asked one of our sales people what would seem like a very simple question. The question, in paraphrase, was – – “Do you know the relationship between ultrasonic frequency and the ability of ultrasonics to clean within a certain sized orifice.” Being a bit rushed when I received …
It doesn’t matter if you call it soap, solvent, surface preparation, or whatever, chemistry is an important part of nearly every cleaning process. The first purpose of the chemistry in a cleaning application is to either dissolve the contaminant or, using some other mechanism, to break the attachment that the contaminant has to the substrate. …
First of all, I would like to thank those of you have become “regulars” to the blog. Having written over 165 “informational” entries now, I am anxious to lift the blog to another level including reader discussions. Reader comments have always been welcome. For those of you who haven’t figured it out, all you have …
If you have worked around ultrasonic cleaning systems, you may have noticed that most of them are plastered with stickers warning against the use of flammable materials as cleaning agents. To those who are not familiar with various ultrasonic phenomena, these warnings may seem a bit extreme. In fact, however, flammable liquids may become even …
Deep in a file drawer in my office on a couple of pieces of paper yellowed by time is an article that, written and published in 1954, is a literal snapshot of the notion and perceived traits of an engineer over 50 years ago – when I was only 9 years old. Every once in a …
As some of you may have noticed, the illustrations in Monday’s (30 April, 2012) were incorrect. For those of you who didn’t notice, that’s OK – because I didn’t either. It is interesting how much more thoroughly you understand something once you’ve tried to convey it to someone else. Regular readers will know that I, …
This blog wasn’t meant to be a April Fool’s day piece but the more I look at it, it might suffice. Sorry it’s a couple of weeks late! For most engineers, words are usually a more or less “get-R-done” proposition. As an engineer, then, I may be a bit weird in that I really pride myself …
Well, sometimes stuff happens! As I was checking the blog today I discovered that the wrong sound clip somehow wormed its way into yesterday’s blog Sounds of Silence – Pulse Period and Duration I have made the appropriate correction and now the sound clips in the published blog are actually the ones that they should …
Today’s blog continues the discussion of valves as promised starting with manually operated valves. There are three basic types of manual valves – the globe valve, the gate valve and the ball valve. Of course, there are many variations of each but a look at their inner workings will reveal that they all fall into one …
English
Spanish
Chinese
Canada
Mexico
United Kingdom
