Overview
The project proposed to analyse four new borate-free agents (cleaners), able to remove any grease or solid soils or contaminants adsorbed or chemically bonded to the surface of the parts from previous operations.
Different borate-free formulations were tested and investigated in a pilot line evaluating the cleaning efficiency compared to formulations containing borates and also evaluating the impact in term of corrosion or damage of these new formulations on two of the most critical aluminium alloys utilised in aeronautics. Together with the identification of the optimal cleaner and its processing window the project provided indications on the analytics to be performed on the bath and the limiting values for selecting bath maintenance or replacement of the full solution.
Finally, an evaluation on small and medium size parts of the whole anodising sequence was performed with particular reference the major requirements of the processes, like adhesion, corrosion properties and fatigue life.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
The project was realised by the company Italtecno (http://www.italtecno.com) and the University of Bologna-Manufacturing Technology group (http://www.unibo.it/docenti/luca.tomesani).
The project analysed four new borate-free agents (cleaners), able to remove any grease or solid soils adsorbed or chemically bonded to the surface of components from previous manufacturing operations like forging, rolling, casting, machining or extrusion. Two innovative cleaners were specially developed by Italtecno for the project. Different borate-free chemicals (the two from Italtecno and two commercial) were tested and investigated evaluating the cleaning efficiency compared to formulations containing borates and also evaluating the impact in term of corrosion of these new formulations on two aluminium alloys widely utilized in aeronautics (2024 clad and unclad).
Together with the identification of the optimal cleaner and its processing window, the project provided indications on the analytics to be performed on the bath and the limiting values for selecting bath maintenance or replacement of the full solution. A couple of new efficient borate free agents able to remove contaminants with an higher efficiency of borate base agents were found, moreover the new agents demonstrated optimal cleaning efficiency also at low temperatures thus providing a new interesting ecological savings in term of energy and CO2 emission for bath temperature control.