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Q. I am responsible for the anodizing process at our company in Uruguay where we produce aluminum profiles for architectural purposes. We are thinking of changing the existing immersion cleaning process to a spray cleaning process. Where can I get information about design criteria and process parameters? Thanks in advance. C.A.
A. Spray cleaning of architectural components is not uncommon, particularly if the parts will be coated or painted. The spray wash process can be well integrated into the conveyorized coating system, whether it is manual or automated. I assume you have considered the overall system efficiency prior to abandoning your immersion cleaning process. Anodizing is already an immersion-intensive process, so preceding it with immersion cleaning generally makes sense, as it can take advantage of some existing hoist and conveyor capability.
However, if you have a segregated cleaning process, a spray wash system may be a good consideration. Most of the conversion is managed by pilot plant validation that is then scaled to full-size, production-level processing. As you begin considering available cleaning options, you should have a well-established source of extrusion profiles of known material and surface contamination. Additionally, you should know what today’s cleaning requirements consist of and what production problems can occur when operating outside of them.
The first step to acquiring this new capability is to involve vendors from both chemical and equipment companies. Assuming your current chemical supplier is providing good products and service, you could start by bringing them into your discussion and at the same time start to connect with equipment suppliers. Since I am not sure who the primary suppliers are in Uruguay, I suggest you ask your chemical supplier with whom in the industry they have had good experiences.
Most reputable equipment manufacturers will have one or two systems on their production floor that can be used for this activity. You can experiment with a variety of conveyor speed times, temperatures, chemicals and concentrations. Depending on the amount of time and number of process scenarios, many suppliers will do this as a free service. As the number of iterations increases, however, it is possible that some may request a one-time development contract to cover some of the basic costs incurred.
Parts cleaned in these experiments then can be brought back to your shop for anodizing and performance comparison to parts cleaned with your existing process. Any loss of performance would indicate that the process that cleaned those parts is likely not suitable for scale up and further consideration. The best performing process can be explored further, and you then can issue a formal request for quotation in order to compare costs and features of the various process scenarios prior to making the final decision.
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