Cleaning for Heat Treat

When considering proper pre and post cleaning of parts, quality is just one consideration for captive heat treaters and commercial shops. The other is the damage that both vacuum and atmospheric furnaces can incur, leaving shops with costly problems to their equipment including: loss of vacuum, contamination to future runs, smoke bombs and shortened quench oil life.  To learn more, click here.

In terms of quality, 17% of rejects occur because of poor pretreating and cleaning. Without the proper cleaning process in place residual contaminates “burn” into the surface during the heat treat step – causing an increase in scrap and dissatisfied customers.

Aluminum tubes with cosmetic staining that were rejected by the customer. Our experts were able to pinpoint the problem and help improve their heat treat process, eliminating all rejects.

Pre and post cleaning can be complicated. The type of cleaning chemistry selected may be more or less effective, depending on the contaminant and the substrate. If the part is being rinsed, water temperature and water quality may adversely affect the rinse results. Standard cleaning practices that worked in the past may no longer work due to increased part volume, changes to equipment or even changes to the contaminants and metal substrates.

Effectiveness of Cleaning Chemistries on Various Contaminants

Effectiveness of Cleaning Chemistries on Various Contaminants

Diagnosing the cause of cleaning issues is what you can expect from 170 plus years of experience. Hubbard-Hall has a complete line of products specifically for heat treatment; solvent and aqueous cleaners, HT salts, quench oils, corrosion inhibitors, and wastewater treatment chemicals.

Hubbard-Hall Chemical Solutions for Heat Treatment Processes

Hubbard-Hall Chemical Solutions for Heat Treatment Processes

To Clean or Not to Clean? That is the question.  

Insufficient cleaning can lead to challenges such as non-uniform layers, soft spots and stop-off paint issues. See what our partner, SAFECHEM has to say about pre-heat treat cleaning, the risks if you don’t, and what the benefits are.

Let our experts become part of your team and figure out the right chemistries for your heat treatment processes.