A Real-World Look at Cleaner Performance

Lessons from the Lab and Plant Floor

Choosing the right metal cleaner can feel straightforward. Until it isn't. On paper, many cleaners look similar, and most will “work” to a degree. But in plant environments with mixed metals, variable soils, inconsistent rinsing, and shifting operating conditions, performance differences become very real. And costly.

So, what actually matters when evaluating cleaner performance, and how do you know you’ve chosen the right one? After years of troubleshooting and a few missteps, David Govoni, a senior chemist at Hubbard-Hall, highlights four important cleaner lessons that show up again and again:

Lesson #1 — The Wrong Cleaner Can Create More Problems Than It Solves

Get the cleaner wrong, and the problems start fast. Too aggressive, and you can etch aluminum or discolor copper alloys. Maybe it’s not handling oil very well. On the plant floor, you may try to compensate by increasing or decreasing cycle times or operating temperature, and in some cases, that can cause oiling out of some of the surfactant components or additional equipment wear.

Lesson #2 — Metal Type Matters More Than People Think

A few quick examples:

• Aluminum can discolor, stain, or etch with the wrong choice of cleaner
• Brass and copper alloys benefit from silicates to protect from oxidation in an alkaline cleaner
• Mixed-metal lines require chemistries flexible enough to avoid damaging the most sensitive substrate

So, if you’re processing multiple alloys, the “best” cleaner is often the one that not only cleans well but protects the most vulnerable metal.

Lesson #3 — Rinsing Is Part of The Cleaning Process

Even the best cleaner can leave residue. Without proper rinsing, residue remaining on parts may impact subsequent operations.

Effective rinsing means:

• Allow adequate drain time for parts
• The use of counterflow rinses will help to keep the final rinse as clean as possible
• Use deionized water when drying to prevent spots
• Monitor rinse water and replenish as needed

End Note: A Field Example

An example of having chosen the “wrong” cleaner came from a local manufacturer who was making zinc belt buckles. The buckles were being vibratory finished to prepare for electroplating. They were using a plastic resin tumbling media, and in combination with the chemistry they had chosen, there were tremendous volumes of foam being generated that covered the shop floor.

The foam and the residue left by the foam had to be rinsed and cleaned from the parts (and the shop floors) after processing, which wasted tremendous volumes of water. Knowing this was not the way to process these parts, Dave and his team developed a cleaner that stopped the foaming problem and left the parts residue-free after processing. The water savings and lowered treatment costs were huge.

Turns out, the best cleaner isn’t necessarily the strongest or the most expensive. It’s the one designed for the real operating environment. And as Dave suggests, it also helps to “have an operator who's paying attention.”

Quick Checklist: Are You Using the Right Cleaner?

✔️ Is the cleaner compatible with every metal you run?

✔️ Are stains, streaks, or oxidation showing up on sensitive substrates?

✔️ Is foam manageable under normal operating conditions?

✔️ Does the rinse stage remove chemistry effectively?

✔️ Are operators making frequent adjustments just to maintain consistency?