Number 1: Before you put the bath in, passivate the tank and all the plumbing. Passivation is when you’re dissolving the nickel with a nitric acid, using a stainless tank in which you’re putting a passive film which stops it from plating out. A good nitric will stop it from plating out immediately. I’ve seen it happen many times. I’ll get the call and say, “Hey, I put...
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What does Earth Day mean to you? For the metal finishing industry, it means that we continue to make the many parts that make the world go round, from airplane and automobiles to medical devices. If it is metal, we touch it. A side aspect of our industry is that we use millions of gallons of water a year to make these parts. This is water we pull from our communities. In the United States it is es...
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In a recent conversation with Barbara & Ed Kanegsberg (The Cleaning Lady and The Rocket Scientist), we discussed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). Congress has asked the EPA to look at existing chemicals and evaluate their risk. They look at them chemical by chemical, step by step.
The risk evaluation is to det...
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Myth 1 of 8: Water is Obviously “Cheaper” than Solvents.
Regular city water alone won’t clean anything. It needs surfactants and detergents that lower surface tension and remove soils. These are consumed during cleaning and need replenishing. Higher temperatures are needed to activate cleaning chemistry, which is important for ensuring good wetting and evaporation after rinsing, ...
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Our Application Specialist, Connor Callais breaks it down for you.
Look at what our Application Specialist, Connor Callais had to say recently showcased in the Hubbard-Hall Seen & Solved podcast.
Connor Callais: Application Specialist Hubbard-Hall
Tim Pennington:
Why would someone choose to use iron phosphates? What are some of the advantages for their process?
Connor Callais:
When you are lo...
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So when we look at manufacturing industries across the board, a lot of people plan for expansion and production, such as adding new lines increasing production hours, and that puts an extra strain on their wastewater systems. We want to future-proof our wastewater systems so that when we do those manufacturing increases, we don’t have to worry later down the line about if our wastewater syst...
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The most common type of corrosion – called atmospheric corrosion – occurs when a metal surface is exposed to oxygen and moisture which then causes a chemical reaction producing iron oxide or rust. For a metal finisher rust is a problem with real consequences. Here we are talking to Larry Ensley, Director of Technical Applications and sharing ideas on how to address it.
Click to Downloa...
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A conversation with Hubbard-Hall’s Joshua McClellan
As a Hubbard-Hall application engineer, Joshua works closely with customers to understand their specific operations and applications of cleaning chemistry to get better results with less chemistry. He has worked with multiple chemical businesses over his career, specializing in chemical application technologies.
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What are the p...
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The heart of industry, almost nothing can be manufactured without heat-treating. We recently caught up with Bob Farrell (Senior Vice President and Technical Director at Hubbard-Hall) and asked him a few questions about the heat-treat market, what he has seen in his 30 years of experience and what lies ahead for manufactures using these applications.
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Why are m...
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Black oxide is the conversion of a base metal material to an oxide of that base metal material. A prime example would be Fe3O4, which is black iron oxide, otherwise known as magnetite; another is a CuO, or copper monoxide. It occurs when the chemicals react with a base material to form an oxide of the base’s primary constituent. In the case of stainless steel, not only does it form oxides, b...
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A conversation with Hubbard Hall’s Jerry Dwyer
Jerry Dwyer CEF, is Hubbard Hall’s market manager for product groups pertaining to heat treating, black oxide and phosphates. His background and experience have established him with knowledgeable insight into the world of heat treating and metal finishing. Dwyer specializes in the above processes and has over a thirty-year history in the h...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 1 of 8: Water is Obviously “Cheaper” than Solvents
Regular city water alone won’t clean anything. It needs surfactants and detergents that lower surface tension and remove soils. These are consumed during cleaning and need replenishing. Higher temperatures are needed to activate cleaning chemistry, which is important for ensuring good wetting and evaporatio...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 2 of 8: Aqueous Systems Can’t Be Used in Critical Cleaning
First, let’s be clear that “critical cleaning” has a very specific meaning. It refers to the removal of sub-micron particles and non-volatile residues. It’s required when any surface contamination would yield adverse effects. While many processes and products might qualify, the term is u...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 3 of 8: Aqueous cleaning is always “safer” than solvent
There’s a misapprehension that “Aqueous Cleaning” refers to cleaning with water. While water is involved, and under the right circumstances can be a solvent, in aqueous cleaning systems the water contains additives. These have several functions, such as lowering surface tension, creating ch...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 4 of 8: Solvents are all BAD!
“Solvent” is an extremely broad term. Any substance that will dissolve another is, technically, a solvent, and that includes water. However, in popular parlance, “solvent” often refers to chemicals that will dissolve oil and grease. Examples include acetone, isopropanol, ethanol and butyl acetate. If these names appear fa...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 5 of 8: Solvents will all be banned through government regulation
It’s true that for some classes of solvents their use either has been or is in the process of being phased out. However, many others are still permitted, although in some cases there are regulations regarding aspects of usage like ventilation. In general, authorities like the EPA take the view that solve...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 6 of 8: Solvent cleaning is always the most efficient process
Solvents make very effective cleaners, in the right application. The key points to consider are, what is being cleaned, what is it being cleaned of, and what is it being cleaned for? Solvents are highly effective for dissolving oils and their low surface tension enables good penetration and evaporation. Solvent cl...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 7 of 8: Market is Dominated by Aqueous Cleaning
Compared to solvent cleaning, aqueous is still the newcomer, even though it has been in use for two decades. Use of aqueous cleaning is undoubtedly on the rise, but to say it dominates the market is just incorrect. Precision cleaning in particular, is a sector where solvent cleaning dominates.
The key, when choosing a cleaning ...
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Myths of Cleaning
Myth 8 of 8: Cleaning is All About Picking a Chemistry
Chemistry is important for sure. The solvent or aqueous cleaner must be compatible with the soil or contamination you want to remove, but it’s more complicated than that. Consider also the material to be cleaned: some cleaners will damage some surfaces. Then there’s the degree of cleaning or cleanliness desired. O...
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