Optic Cable Cleaning

Question:
Which Alconox brand cleaner would be best suited to clean fiber optic surfaces at the glass joint to assure efficient light transmission?

Answer:
The use of a 1% Alconox heated 130 deg F ultrasonic bath followed by a deionized water rinse gives a suitable surface for bonding optical fibers.

More information about Alconox, Powdered Precision Cleaner, can be downloaded by clicking here.

Lens Cleaning

Question:
How do you clean wax marks on optical lenses which are difficult to remove?

Answer:
Use either 1% Alconox or Liquinox in a heated 160 deg F ultrasonic bath followed by a deionized water rinse to clean optical lenses during manufacturing.

To learn more about Alconox, Powdered Precision Cleaner and Liquinox, Critical Cleaning Liquid Detergent, please visit Alconox.com.

Cleaning Nylon 6

Question:
Can Nylon 6 be successfully cleaned with high alkaline cleaners?

Answer:
Nylon 6 is generally labile to acids and oxidizing agents. Nylon 6 would be fine with an alkaline cleaner like Solujet. Nylon 6 is labile to strong oxidizing agents. Alcojet and Detojet contain small amounts of active chlorine oxidizing agents. At the high pH of these cleaners, the oxidizing agent is pretty stable and is not that strong an oxidizer, so do not expect rapid attack on Nylon 6, but given sufficient time and temperature, expect to eventually see some effect from Alcojet and Detojet.

To learn more about alkaline cleaners, visit Alconox.com.

PMMA alkaline cleaning

Question:
Is PMMA (Poly methylmethacrylate acrylate) compatible with Alconox brand high pH alkaline detergents?

Answer:
Poly methylmethacrylate acrylate (PMMA) is compatible with alkaline detergents like Solujet. PMMA is labile to strong oxidizing agents. Alcojet and Detojet contain small amounts of active chlorine oxidizing agents. At the high pH of these cleaners, the oxidizing agent is pretty stable and is not that strong an oxidizer, so a rapid attack is not expected on PMMA, but given sufficient time and temperature, expect to eventually see some effect from Alcojet and Detojet on PMMA.

To learn more about alkaline detergents, visit Alconox.com.

Neutralizing Solujet using Citric Acid

Question:
How much Citric Acid is needed to neutralize 100 gallons of Solujet below pH 7?

Answer:
100 gallons of 1% Solujet solution is 833.3 pounds. 833.3 pounds of 1% Solujet solution
contains 8.3 pounds of Solujet. The amount of citric acid needed to neutralize the solution below pH 7 is 1.67 pounds of citric acid.

For more information on Solujet, please download our PDF.

Citric Acid vs. Citranox

Question:
Is Citranox comparable to citric acid?

Answer:
Yes, 1% Citranox can be used to replace the kind of cleaning achievable from 1% citric acid. Citranox formulation is approximately 1/3 citric and other organic acids by weight, but there are also wetting and penetrating agents that enhance the performance of the acids, so that although to really get a roughly equivalent amount of acid you would need to use a 3% Citranox solution. Silica and other residues that the 1% Citric acid is designed to remove could also be removed by a 1% Citranox solution. Extremely heavy scale buildup can be removed by a 1% solution of Citranox. The solution will eventually become exhausted - an exhausted solution will typically be very heavily discolored and the pH will have risen to higher than a pH of 5.5. Instead, a 1.5% or 2% solution of Citranox can be used.

For more information on Citranox, download our PDF.