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From the Forum:Inside This Issue:
sonics are used to meetthe challenge of remov-ing small particles from
inaccessible areas, as amajor manufacturerrecently discoveredwhen looking to reduce
rejects on a researchand development pre-treatment line about togo into production.
I d e n t i f y i n g t h eCleaning Problem
The pretreatment line
in question has beencleaning small screwmachine type parts,about one-fourth inchin diameter, which willbecome part of gas as-sembly valves. Theparts have a drilled
By: Cheryl Larkin
The same characteris-tics of ultrasonics that
make them an impor-tant component on anew cleaning or pre-treatment line alsomake them a valuableretrofit on an existingprocess line
Ultrasonics can opti-mize the removal ofsome types of soilsfrom certain parts, such
as buffing compoundfrom crevices and tinyparticles from metal-working operations.Other excellent applica-tions include precisioncleaning of small ob- jects and electronics
assemblies prior toother finishing opera-tions, and cleaning of
valve bodies, transmis-sion parts and sub-assemblies, medicaldevices and injection
molds.
Sometimes ultrasonicswill speed up a clean-ing operation thatwould otherwise take
much longer. For ex-ample, carbonization
can be removed frominjection molds in min-utes instead of hourswith the right combina-tion of ultrasonics,heat, and cleaning so-lution.
In other cases, ultra-
A P R I L 2 0 0 8 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3
FINE TUN E CLEANING & RINSINGWITH ULTRASONIC RETROFITS
F I N E T U N EC L E A N I N G
1
I N D U S T R Y E V E N T S
2
N E W S & N O T E S
3
F I N I S H I N GS P O T L I G H T
4
F R O M T H EF O R U M
6
T H E L A S TW O R D
1 5
C O N T E N T S
The Future of Finish ing
(page 15)Finishing
Spotlight:
Interview w ith Dr. Art
Kushner of Kushners Elec-
troplating School (page 4)
Continued on page 8...
Hex Chrome on
Hard Steel
(page 6)
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Page 2F I N I S H I N G T A L K
April 9-10 :
Powder Coating School
Denver, COsurfacefinishingacademy.com
April 20-23 :
SSCT Annual Tech. Conference
San Destin, FL
April 21-23 :
Coatings for Plastic Symposium
Chicago, IL
(888) 530-6714
www.coatingsforplastics.com
April 21-24 :
NA 2008
I-X Center
Cleveland, OH
www.nashow.com
April 22-24 :
NASF Washington Forum
Washington, DC
www.nasf.org
April 28-29 ; May 1-2
MacDermid Electroless Nickel School
Irvine, CA; Dallas, TX
May 4-7:
RadTech 2008
Chicago, IL
www.radtech2008.com
May 13-16:
ET 2008
Orlando, FL
www.et08.org
May 14-16:
Electrocoat 2008
Indianapolis, IN
www.electrocoat.org
June 3-5:
American Coatings Show
Charlotte, NC
american-coatings-show.com
Have an upcoming event? Tell
us about it at:
www.finishingtalk.com!
I N D U S T R Y E V E N T S 2 0 0 8
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Page 3V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
N E W S & N O T E S
Spartanburg, SC The Drr
Group has received a major or-
der from the BMW Group for its
U.S. plant in Spartanburg, SC,
worth more than 100 million.
BMWs production capacity at
the plant will be increased from
160,000 to 240,000 units by
2012. The required expansion of
the paint shop will be realized
largely by Drr. While produc-
tion is supposed to begin in the
first two areas in mid-2009, the
sealing lines startup is planned
for mid-2010. Capacity is to in-
crease from 27 units per hournow to 46 as a result of expand-
ing the paint shop. For more
information, visit www.durr.com
or www.bmwgroup.com.
Fridley, MN DuPont Coating
Solutions has formally certified
Nor-Ell Inc. of Fridley, MN, as a
Certified Star CoaterSM. As a
member of the DuPont Star
Coater program, Nor-Ell submit-
ted a request for DuPont to au-dit its operations in an effort to
qualify for certified status. For a
Star Coater member to qualify
as certified, an independent in-
dustry consultant examines 10
different areas that cover the
operations of the business.
These areas include safety, cus-
tomer satisfaction and quality
and consistency. For more info
visit:www.dupontpowder.com orwww.starcoater.com.
DEARBORN, MI The Society
of Manufacturing Engineers
(SME) will host the NanoManu-
facturing and the co-located Mi-
croManufacturing Conference
and Exhibits, April 22-23, 2008,
at the Sheraton Hotel in Fram-
ingham, Massachusetts. This
event will not only bring to-
gether two emerging manufac-
turing technologies, but also 13
of Greater Bostons brightest
engineering and science univer-
sity students. Their participation
will mark the launch of the con-
ferences Bright Minds Nano
Program, a mentoring program
which provides full conference
passes to students from Boston
University, MIT, Northeastern
University and other schools.
For more information or to reg-ister, please visit www.sme.org/
n a n o m a n u f a c t u r i n g o r
www.sme.org/micro.
Washington, DC The EPA has
released its National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pol-
lutants: Paint Stripping and Mis-
cellaneous Surface Coating Op-
erations at Area Sources final
rule. This action promulgates
national emission standards for
hazardous air pol lutants
(NESHAP) for area sources en-
gaged in paint stripping, surface
coating of motor vehicles and
mobile equipment, and miscella-
neous surface coating opera-
tions. EPA has listed "Paint
Stripping," "Plastic Parts and
Products (Surface Coating),"'
and "Autobody Refinishing Paint
Shops"' as area sources of haz-
ardous air pollutants (HAP) that
contribute to the risk to public
health in urban areas under theIntegrated Urban Air Toxics
Strategy. This final rule includes
emissions standards that reflect
the generally available control
technology or management
practices in each of these area
source categories. For more
information, please visit
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr.
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Page 4
F I N I S H I N G S P O T L I G H T : D R . A R T K U S H N E R
AK: We offer a wide range ofprograms:
Electroplating Know How II
A 20 volume comprehensive cor-respondence program (distancelearning)
Electroplating Know HowCustom Programs Customtraining programs using selected
volumes from the comprehensiveprogram (correspondence)
Electroplating Know HowBasics Two day basic principles
seminars at various locationsOn-site Training Programsthat can be as general or de-tailed depending what a com-pany requires.
FTalk: Who organized/compiledthe 20 volume correspondencecourse? How long did it take todo so?
AK: Our original was written in1947-48, and consisted of tenvolumes. The original programtook approximately oneyear. The 20 volume programwas written over a three yearperiod, 1973-1975. Both werewritten by my father. Since thattime, a good portion of the 20volume program has been ed-ited, updated, and rewritten byme.
FTalk: In addition to being thedirector of the Kushner Electro- plating School, you also offerconsulting services for metal fin-ishing businesses. In your ex- perience, what has been themost challenging part of this job,and what was the most difficultproblem you had to solve?
do with the industry. Well, aslife teaches you do not makestatements like that because
they well come back and biteyou! I trained as a chemist,and received a Ph.D. in Physical
Organic Chemistry. I did the col-lege professor bit for a while,and worked for private industryin various chemical related in-dustries, but continued to workwith my dad on special projects.
When my father died in 1978, I
took over the business and oper-
ated it on a part time basis. In1993 my wife, Bobby, and I ex-panded the business and startedoffering seminars as well as con-sulting on a full time basis.
FTalk: How old is the KushnerElectroplating School, and howhas it changed since its earlydays?AK: This year the business willbe 61 years old. The basic prin-
ciples of electroplating have notchanged. Faraday's Law has notbee repealed by Congress, thankgoodness! Some of the thingsthat have changed are: A muchbetter understanding of the basicprinciples of electroplating: theway plating is performed (betterchemistries, better control, etc.);environmental concerns (youcan't dump your plating waste inthe city sewer, etc.). In additionthe method of business haschanged: Use to be phone calls,mail and paper checks. Now it ise-mail, credit card, electronictransfer of funds.
FTalk: What courses do you cur-rently offer through the school?
This month, Finishing Talkinterviewed consultant, educator,
and director of the Kushner Elec-troplating School based in
Sunnyvale, CA. Dr. Art Kushner
earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry
from Penn State University, and
has been training individuals in
the electroplating business for
over 25 years. In addition to the
Electroplating School, Dr.
Kushner has served as President
and Education Chairperson of
the Santa Clara Valley Branch ofthe American Electroplaters and
Surface Finishers Society (AESF).
FTalk: How long have you beeninvolved in the finishing industry,and what initially attracted youto this sector?
AK: I have been around theelectroplating industry since Iwas 7-8 years old. The Kushner
Electroplating School (KES) wasfounded by my dad in 1947. Hehad worked in electroplating inthe 1930's, and after working onthe Manhattan Project decided toget into consulting and trainingafter WW2. He often stated thathe wanted to play a part inbringing the electroplating indus-try into the 20th century. Istarted out by stuffing enve-lopes, then was promoted to
working in his lab, and laterworked on some of his researchprojects.
I was not initially attracted tothis industry, and in fact I washeard to say a number of timeswhen I went off to college that Idid not want to have anything to
F I N I S H I N G T A L K
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Page 5V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
T: (800) 438-6880
T: (828) 464-1376
F: (828) 464 -7094
www.jacksonlea.com
Your Total Finishing Resource.
1715 E. Conover Blvd. Conover, NC 28613
AK: The most challenging partof my job is to prepare trainingprograms/ seminars that teach/educate and are enjoy-able. Anybody who has evertaken a class or seminar remem-
bers speakers/trainers/professorsthat put you to sleep. The trickis to pass on information andmake it a pleasant experience.
Consulting can be difficult attimes because your client is notreally giving you the complete"skinny". Trying to get the realfacts on a consulting gig can bevery difficult at times. Strangelyenough, what I find most frus-
trating when consulting is thatthe customer is paying you tohelp solve a problem, but at theend of the day is not willing tofollow your suggestions and rec-ommendations.
FTalk: Do you have any plansfor expanding the school to en-compass more programs,
courses, or subjects in the fu-ture?
AK: I am hoping to prepare afew programs that will be avail-able on the internet. People to-day are short of time and have amuch shorter attention spanthan individuals growing up inthe 50's and 60's. They do notlike long seminars or readingmanuals. Use of the internet fortraining is a good solution forthis problem.
FTalk: Have you seen an overallincrease or decrease in interestin the study of Electroplatingsince you took over as directorof the school?
AK: There definitely is a down-ward trend in interest in thestudy of electroplating. Electro-
plating is not a "cool" professionin most peoples eyes. Electro-plating can not compete withcomputers, software, and multi-million dollar business deals. Inaddition, much of our industry is
moving and has moved offshore. The companies that re-main in North America arestronger because they havemade commitments to bettertechnology and improving envi-ronmental operating conditions;but many smaller shops couldnot, or chose not to, and theyhave disappeared. In short, elec-troplating in North America is nota growth industry.
FTalk: What is the percentage
(estimate) of youth that are
showing interest in the area of
electroplating, from your obser-
vation?
AK: I can't really give you an
estimate but I suspect that indi-
viduals interesting electroplating
as a career is probably less than
0.001%.
FTalk: Is the Kushner Electro-
plating School currently, or plan-
ning on, making an effort to pro-
mote metal finishing educationand careers to college and high
school aged students?
AK: No, we are not. Perhaps as
part of a consortium or partner-
ship we would get involved, but
not by ourselves. ~FT~
If you would like more informa-
tion on the Kushner Electroplat-
ing School, upcoming classes
and workshops, or would like to
know more about Dr. Kushner,
please visit his website at
www.platingschool.com.
He may also be reached by
phone at (408) 749-8652, or by
email at [email protected].
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Page 6F I N I S H I N G T A L K
F R O M T H E F O R U M : H E X C H R O M E O N H A R D S T E E L
In this months column, Finishing Talk forum mem-bers Overchrome, Labrat, and thechuz discuss
problems and solutions surrounding adhesion whenchrome plating hard steel. Feel free to add yourthoughts to their ongoing discussion by visiting theforums at www.FinishingTalk.com/electroplatingand then clicking on the thread entitled HexChrome Hard Steel. For more From the Forumdiscussions, check out our monthly internet televi-sion show, Finishing Talk Live, where hosts PaulFisher and Paul Skelton bring the boards to life!
www.finishingtalklive.com
Overchrome:
I have a project to add a layer of chrome, about 1-2 mils thick, to a piece of OD round stock. Thepiece is made from hardened heat treated 1045steel. My concern is with adhesion. From past ex-perience I know that the harder the piece beingplated, the harder to get the chrome to adhere. Asof now, I run my tanks around 130 degrees anduse a reverse etch of about 30 seconds to 2 min-utes to do my plating. This is done in a separate
tank that has the same make-up as my platingtank.
How hard can stock be before you cannot get it to
adhere?
Is there a different process that I should use toplate this type of steel?
Would using a different chemical to etch help?
Labrat:
This is normally the process used for hard chrome
plating on steel. However, if you have adhesionproblems, you could try a more aggressive ap-proach - soak clean (high alkaline) - electroclean(high alkaline) - electrolytic hydrochloric acid prep(reverse current/direct current/reverse current),rinse well, reverse current chrome etch, chromeplate. Another option (if permitted for appearance)is to sandblast after the alkaline cleaning step,
then repeat the entire prep sequence statedabove. Hope this helps.
Overchrome:
I don't have too much trouble doing hard chromeon most steels. Currently, I prep, scotchbrite, nap-tha wipe, rinse and repeat, reverse etch in chrome,and chrome. I also do a water break test. I foundthis process works well, except for really hardenedsteel. I don't think the problem is in the cleaning, Ibelieve it is the etching process. I am going to lookinto a hydrochloric acid prep process. After sand-blasting steel, how much prep do you have to doto it before you can plate over the sandblastedarea? Also, what media should be used? Currently,
I have the ability to blast with a fine glass bead.
Labrat:
The glass bead should work. If the glass beadsseem to break down before producing a noticeableetch, you may need to use something more ag-gressive, like aluminum oxide. Make sure the partis thoroughly cleaned before blasting, blast, thenreverse current chrome / direct chrome plate.
Overchrome:
Well, I attempted a test piece using your advice.The only step that I changed right now from mynormal process was adding the SANDBLAST. I alsoIncreased the length of the etch time. It is hard tobelieve that just those little added steps allowedthe chrome to adhere. It also turned out a littlebrighter. I am not sure exactly why the sandblastmade such a difference, but it did.
Thanks for the advice. I will post back when theother piece comes out.
thechuz:
If it has been heat treated, you probably have heat-scale on the component, which can make the ad-hesion poor/ non existent. An HCL pickle can re-move this scale most of the time, but theres po-
tential for hydrogen embrittlement which probablywouldnt be an issue for that strength of material.A sulphuric etch can help allot for the higher ten-sile materials, and if there is a significant silicon inthe steel (e.g. 300M) a sulphuric/HF etch works a
Posted on December 3, 2007
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tank, the substrate and geome-try of the parts, and the natureof the soil. Stainless steel proc-
ess tanks are indicated, as theyencourage reflection of thesound waves throughout the
solution, thereby enhancing theultrasonic action while at thesame time withstanding it.
When cleaning with ultrasonics,the frequency of the soundwaves is matched to the appli-cation. For the most part, lower
frequencies (20-40 kHz) aresafe for most applications andwill produce the most intensecavitation energies to removethe most common types of con-taminants (oil, grease, metalchips). They are also the mostcommonly used frequencies.
Higher frequencies (68-250kHz) will produce smaller cavi-tation bubbles with less intenseenergies, but more of them.This can be beneficial in the
removal of smaller particles andwhere damage is a concern(polished surfaces, delicateparts, soft substrates).
Accomplishing the R etrofit
The pretreatment line originallyconsisted of a series of polyeth-ylene tanks, including a poly-ethylene cleaning station. Be-
cause space was available for anew clean station and polyeth-
ylene is not compatible withultrasonics, Miraclean recom-mended adding a new stainlesssteel station to the beginning ofthe line where the ultrasoniccleaning activity would takeplace. (In other retrofit scenar-ios, ultrasonics can be added toexisting stainless steel tanks.)
Presented with the new tank
Page 8F I N I S H I N G T A L K
F I N E T U N E C L E A N I N G & R I N S I N G - C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1
orifice which traps both cuttingoil and metal shavings. Becausethe parts are subsequently
plated, cleanliness is critical.The size and projected volumeof the parts make racking im-
practical, so the parts are proc-essed in both the pretreatmentand plating operations in a mo-torized barrel loaded one-thirdfull. Even with the mechanicalaction provided by the motor-ized barrel and a mild alkaline
cleaning solution and multiplerinses, the cleaning was unsuc-cessful. A closer look at theprocess became necessarywhen O-rings farther along inthe production chain failed toseat correctly on the parts, indi-cating the continued presenceof oil and/or metal shavings.
In fact, microscopic evaluationof a sampling of 100 partsshowed that 99 had some re-maining soil contamination after
barrel processing through thealkaline clean and multiple rins-ing steps. So, although in the-ory, rotation would maximizepart exposure to cleaning andrinsing agents, the combinationwasn't getting the job done.
Process engineers exploredvarious alternatives and/or en-hancements for the process.These included different clean-
ing chemistries and electro-cleaning, but neither solved theproblem.
How Ultrason ics Can Help
"Ultrasonics are a good optionto consider in cleaning scenar-ios such as these, because ofthe nature of the cleaning activ-
ity they provide," says RyneJohnson of Miraclean, who wascalled in to work on the project.
Ultrasonic energy occurs whensound waves are introducedinto a liquid such as water. The
sound waves create microscopicbubbles during periods of posi-tive pressure, which implodeand release a burst of energyduring periods of negative pres-sure. This process is called cavi-tation, and in conjunction withappropriate chemistry and tem-perature, the energy under-mines and releases soil barriers.
One of the most special aspectsof ultrasonics is that the im-ploding bubbles travel whereverthe solution goes, allowingcleaning activity even withincomplex part geometries. Inthis case, the rotating barrelholding the partswith its smallperforated openings for solutionto flow throughhad to be con-sidered as well.
In a typical parts-cleaning ap-plication, ultrasonics are bottom-mounted and the watts of ul-trasonics required are deter-mined by the volume of the
Parts cleaned in rotating barrel in
mild alkaline cleaning solutionshow cutting oil and metal shav-ings still present on the parts.
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Page 9V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
option, process engineers de-cided to size the tank to accom-modate two motorized barrels,thereby increasing throughput.The new tank is equipped with
40 kHz of bottom-mounted ul-trasonics, proven through test-ing to be able to penetrate themotorized barrel openings andcavitate throughout the load.
The motorized barrel speed wasminimized to promote the ultra-sonic penetration and enhance
the cleaning action. The tankalso is equipped with heat,which encourages ultrasonicactivity in a temperature rangeof 100 to 180F (above whichheat reduces cavitation pres-
sure and becomes counterpro-ductive to ultrasonic activity).
Cleaning time in the new ultra-
sonic scenario remains the
same as before: three minutes
per loadnow actually three
minutes per two loads, thereby
doubling production. As before,
the cleaning station is followed
by immersion in multiple rinses
occurring in the original poly-
ethylene tanks. The differenceis that a recent microscopic
evaluation of parts cleaned in
rotating barrels in the new ul-
trasonic tank found that 99 out
of 100 parts were clean and
showed no evidence of cutting
oil or metal shavings. Subse-
quent processes also now pro-
ceed without incident.
Ultrasonic Rinsing Takes aTurn
Ultrasonics are not always nec-
essary in rinse tanks, but they
can be recommended in certain
applications where the geome-
try of the parts or the level of
cleanliness required suggests
that they would be of value (to
meet a clean room or military
specification, for example).
As with cleaning tank ultrason-
ics, rinse tank ultrasonics can
also be retrofitted into existing
applications to improve per-formance. One such application
is a nickel chrome plating line
at a major manufacturers, de-
signed to plate a bright finish
on parts.
Parts now clean after ultrasonicsretrofitted on the application(which remained the same other-wise).
Continued on page 12...
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Page 10F I N I S H I N G T A L K
Anodizing professionals nowhave a new reference to turn to
when searching for an answer
to the question which is the
proper adhesive to bond vari-
ous materials to anodized alu-
minum? The Aluminum Ano-
dizers Council (AAC) has re-
leased a new Technical Bulletin:
Guide to Selecting the Proper
Adhesive for Anodizing Applica-
tions. The document explainswhich adhesives are better to
use when bonding anodized
aluminum to various substrates.
The publication, released to
AAC members in February, is
another in a series of Technical
A A C R E L E A S E S N E W T E C H N I C A L B U L L E T I N F O R A N O D I Z I N G I N D U S T R Y
Bulletins containing valuable
reference information about
aluminum anodizing. The Tech-
nical Bulletin addresses consid-
erations for choosing an adhe-
sive, identifies characteristics of
each adhesive, and features a
selection guide.
The new Technical Bulletin, ti-
tled, "Guide to Selecting the
Proper Adhesive for Anodizing
Applications," as well as the
Technical Bulletin Compendiumcontaining the full library of
Technical Bulletins published by
the Aluminum Anodizers Council
over the past 15 years is avail-
able for purchase through AAC.
The Aluminum Anodizers Coun-
cil is the international trade as-
sociation of firms engaged in
aluminum anodizing and whose
mission it is to promote the use
of anodized aluminum world-
wide through technical inter-
change, education, marketing
and other means to meet the
common interests of its mem-
bers.
For more info, contact the
Aluminum Anodizers Council,
1000 N . Rand Road,
Suite 214, Wauconda, IL
60084-3102 USA.
Telephone: 847/ 526-2010
Fax: 847/ 526-3993;
www.anodizing.org.
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Page 11V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
The Society of ManufacturingEngineers (SME) announced
that General Motors will spon-sor its fifth annual Bright Minds
Mentor Program. As a part of
the program, 50 Orlando School
Districts' high school students
will participate in the custom-
ized program while attending
the SME RAPID 2008 Confer-
ence & Exposition at Disney's
Coronado Springs Resort on
May 21, 2008. Since 2003, the
SME program's ongoing missionhas been to give promising
technology-oriented high school
students opportunities to learn
about additive manufacturing
and rapid development tech-
nologies from industry-expert
mentors.
The Bright Minds Mentor Pro-
gram originated from SME's
Rapid Technologies & Additive
Manufacturing Community in2003 and is led by a distin-
guished panel of dedicated SME
members and volunteers. One
of these leaders is General Mo-
tors senior researcher, Patrick
Spicer. "We see this as a great
opportunity to get students in-
terested in technical fields that
are crucial to the automotive
industry, such as engineering
and manufacturing," he said."That's one of the reasons why
we're glad to be a part of this
program. General Motors is al-
ways looking for talented peo-
ple with strong backgrounds
and expertise in technical
areas."
This year's Bright Minds MentorProgram will kick off with anoverview by industry consultant
and analyst Terry Wohlers ofWohlers Associates, Inc. Overthe course of the day, these
students will attend conferencesessions, tour exhibits featuringcomputer-aided drawing dem-onstrations, and learn RapidTechnology's influence on den-tal and medical applications aswell as aerospace industry ad-vancements. Several of the topprototyping equipment manu-
facturers also will loan equip-ment and provide materials tothe schools for the next schoolyear.
For more information on BrightMinds, please visit www.sme.org/brightminds. For details on SME orthe RAPID show, please visitwww.sme.org/rapid.
G M S P O N S O R S 2 0 0 8 B R I G H T M I N D S M E N T O R P R O G R A M
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Page 12F I N I S H I N G T A L K
F I N E T U N E C L E A N I N G & R I N S I N G , C O N T F R O M P A G E 9 . . .
The plating line consists of pretreatment, plate,and nine post-plating rinses, all heated andequipped with air spiders to promote solutionmovement. To eliminate unacceptable spotting, the
last two rinse tanks are high quality DI water. Thefinal rinse is followed by a recirculating hot air dry.Because the parts are now a finished product, theythen move on to inspection and packaging.
Identifying the Problem
The problem that led to the ultrasonic retrofit in
this case was a spot that mysteriously began ap-
pearing after the drying operation.
Orange to brown in color (indicating that it was
errant hexavalent chromium plating solution), the
spot was miniscule in size but very obvious on theotherwise bright finish. It occurred near a cavity,
but was not visible during any of the nine rinses or
until after the hot air dry, when it was discovered
by product inspectors. A nuisance cosmetic imper-
fection, the spot then required hand-cleaning by
the inspection team, which was time and energy
consuming.Continued on next page...
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Page 13V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1
Evaluating Ultrasonics
The spot was traced back to
imperfect rinsing despite the
quantity of rinses, the air agita-tion and heat in the rinses and
the DI water. Process engineers
determined that the dry cycle
was wicking the errant chrome
out from the cavity.
Miraclean was called in to test
ultrasonics in the rinse cycle. In
a testimony to the power of
imploding bubbles, 25 kHz ul-
trasonics tested as too powerful
for the application, when thefrequency microscopical ly
opened a gateway in the cavity,
affecting fit in the final part.
The slightly less aggressive 40
kHz effectively removed the
spot in testing without affecting
part fit.
Retrofitting the Ultrasonics
There were two challenges to
retrofitting ultrasonics on this
production line. The first wasthat the nine rinse stations
were all constructed of polypro-
pylene, which while an eco-
nomical choice in the world of
multiple rinses, would not sup-
port ul trasonic act ivi ty.
(Ultrasonic energy is absorbed
by polypropylene, therefore los-
ing some of the ultrasonic ef-
fectiveness, and ultrasonics will
undermine the welds in a poly-propylene tank causing tank
failure.)
Miraclean designed a stainless
steel tank insert for the third to
the last rinse station on the line
(the last tap water rinse). Sized
to fit into the existing tank, the
insert is outfitted with electric
heat, a junction box for the
heat and the ultrasonics, and a
remote, cooled NEMA enclosureto house the ultrasonic genera-
tors and provide a central dis-
connect.
The second challenge on this
retrofit was that the parts are
rack mounted for plating on
plastisol coated racks. Even
here, the plastisol will absorb
some of the ultrasonic energy,
potentially minimizing its effec-
tiveness. Plus the critical sur-
faces of the part face a side,
not the bottom, of the tank in
this application. Therefore, to
maximize ultrasonic exposure to
critical part surfaces, the im-
mersible ultrasonic "cans" alsoare rack mounted and cover a
s i d e w a l l i n t h i s
application.
Rinse tank times remain the
same as before the addition of
ultrasonics (23 seconds of im-
mersion per rinse). The result
of adding ultrasonics to one
rinse station in this process line
is that the spotting problem
that used to affect almost everypart has been eliminated,
thereby saving time and
money.
Variety of Sizes and Con-figurations
Ultrasonics come in a variety of
sizes and configurations. They
are available as diaphragm-
mounted in a dedicated
stainless steel tank that has
been sized to meet particularrequirements, or as immersible
stainless steel cans in a variety
of sizes to be retrofitted into
existing stainless steel tanks. As
we've seen, they can even be
retrofitted into polypropylene
tanks by thinking outside the
box (or inside the tank) and
employing a stainless steel in-
sert.
Ultrasonics in the right fre-quency for the job and at theappropriate watt density, canmake a big and immediate im-pact on the success of a clean-ing, pretreatment, or rinsingproject. The potential for retro-fitting ultrasonics means thatyou don't have to wait for awhole new process line to reapthe rewards. ~
Writt en by Cheryl Larkin ofMiraclean Ultrasonic
Cleaning Systems
based in Ashvil le, NY.
This article was reprinted cour-
tesy of Products Finishing
Magazine.
S c h e m a t i c o f s t a i n l e s s
s t e e l i n s e r t / r i n s e t a n k
ultrasonic retrofit.
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T H E F U T U R E O F F I N I S H I N G - A L O O K A T T H E R E P O R T B Y T H E N M F R C
Feeling a little shaky aboutthe finishing industry thesedays? Unsure of what the not-so
-booming U.S. economy has instore for you? Then the NationalMetal Finishing Resource Centerjust might have some of the an-swers (and predictions) that youneed. In January of this year,the NMFRC released the productof a collaboration between sev-eral well known industry profes-sionals, entitled The Future ofFinishing. Self-described aswritten for anyone who has a
stake in the Surface Finishingindustry, this thorough report issuitable for business owners,employees of job shop or cap-tive surface finishing operations,suppliers and customers, envi-ronmental regulators and the
general public. It is a far reach-ing resource that I would sug-gest taking the time to at leastscan through, as it is packed full
of useful facts and detailed ex-planations of current and futuretrends affecting the surface fin-ishing industry.
Focusing on three areas impor-tant to todays industry eco-nomics, environmental regula-tions, and technology the re-port attempts to both educatethe reader on the basics of each
trend, as well as explore the
likely course of events thatcould manifest within the indus-try in response to each one. Aset of two potential futures forthe industry is presented earlyon: one in which newly intro-duced technologies would re-quire a skilled coater to functionproperly, and another whereplating technology evolves into
The most notorious, of course,would be Global Warming, re-sulting in a rise in energy costsand potentially slower economic
growth. The other, lesser known(but quickly becoming a house-hold name), is the life-cyclemethod. This method is a wayof manufacturing that takes intoconsideration the environmentalburdens of producing based onthe energy and materials used,and wastes created by the proc-ess.
Technology
Insofar as this trend is con-cerned, the authors of the re-port provide the reader with acomprehensive analysis of theway that finishers are likely tooptimize existing technologies,and develop and implement new
technology. These include im-proving conventional surfacefinishing processes in order toreduce chemical usage, workerexposure risk, and waste gen-eration while maintaining aquality finish and productivity,and the switch from currentimmersion chemistry solutionsto alternative metal depositiontechnologies (such as HVOF orPVD).
This article only scratches thesurface of the wealth of infor-mation meticulously condensedinto the report. The insights it
offers into current and futuretrends is definitely worth aglance (or a good, long stare ). You can download it directly(and for free) at the NMFRCshomepage: www.nmfrc.org.
Take a look, and tell us whatyou think at finishingtalk.com!
a fully automated, no skills nec-essary process. Since there arefew new technologies boastingthe reliance on skilled operators,
it appears that the latter futuremay be the one we are headingfor; the only question is, howlong until plating systems caneffectively run themselves?
Economics
Unfortunately, this is not themost popular buzzword floatingaround the country at present.The U.S. is currently strugglingamidst the ruins of a declining
manufacturing base, competingagainst an unprecedented num-ber of global competitors, wal-lowing in its trade deficit, andsimultaneously ignoring scien-tific research. With all this nega-tive pressure on the economy as
a whole, its no wonder that thefinishing industry is in such abind; in addition to the above,finishers nationwide are at-tempting to compete with im-possibly low prices from Asia,stringent product and materialsregulations from the EuropeanUnion, and an endless patch-work of process regulation fromthe EPA and similar governmententities.
Environment
Which brings me to my nexttopic. In addition to the run ofthe mill environmental concerns
that any surface finisher can nodoubt relay from memory (andthe report also does a terrificjob of giving a concise overviewof existing regulations for thoseof you who cannot), there is apretty detailed discussion con-cerning two fairly recent envi-ronmental concerns that will ef-fect finishers in years to come.
T H E L A S T W O R D
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www.FinishingTalk.com
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