Cleaning of Metals

Cleaning operations are carrying out both preparatory to finishing operations and after finishing operations. They are primarily utilized to remove dirt, oil, scale, oxides, and other harmful ingredients that finally affect the life of the product. The types of unwanted surface contaminants that on the whole exist are following:

a.    Pigmented drawing compounds and unpigmented oil and grease,
b.    Chips, cutting fluids, rust and scale,
c.    Polishing and buffing compounds and various other contaminants, Selection of cleaning process is mostly influenced by
a.    Type of contaminants & composition of surface metal,
b.    Degree of cleanliness needed and surface finish tolerance,
c.    Condition of metal surface and permissible metal loss, and
d.    Production needs and cost involved.

Cleaning processes might be classified as :

a.    Chemical cleaning, and
b.    Mechanical cleaning.