What Are the Uses
for the Bromothane™ Solvents?

There are three major applications for Bromothane™ specialty fluids.

The Bromothane™ solvents are great cleaners that simply dissolve many types of contamination, in exactly the same way hot coffee dissolves a spoonful of sugar. Once the contamination is dissolved it's easy to simply rinse it away.

But Bromothane™ solvents are different because of their strength. They literally whisk away oils, grease, fluxes, and a whole host of different types of organic and inorganic grime. The Bromothane™ solvents have K_b values in excess of 100, which means the solvents are powerful, aggressive cleaners. In short, they work great.

For most customers, the solvent commonly is used in a type of engineered cleaning system called a vapor degreaser. Throughput is high, cycles times are fast, the quality is stellar and the cleaning results are superior. In addition, the parts come out of the cleaner absolutely dry, they are generally at room temperature, and irregular shapes are accommodated easily. Try doing all of that in an aqueous cleaner!

• Displacement Cleaning •

The second big application for Bromothane™ is displacement cleaning. In this application, the key to the success of the cleaning process is the specific gravity of the Bromothane™ solvent and the very low surface tension of the solvent.

You see, there are many types of contamination which are not soluble in either aqueous nor solvent cleaning chemistries. Metal filings, fibers, hair, dust and solder balls are just a few examples. The advantage that Bromothane™ solvents bring is that they are extremely heavy -- normally between 1.1 and 1.3 times heavier than water. This weight, when combined with the very low surface tension of the solvent, means that Bromothane™ solvents simply can get underneath these inorganic materials and float them away, just as a battleship floats on the ocean.

But it gets even better. Sometimes the inorganic contamination has a static charge, binding it to the substrate being cleaned. At a sub-micron level, these ionic bonds can be stronger than steel and nearly impossible to break with mere mechanical action. Bromothane™ handles this problem very nicely using polar additives, such as tiny quantities of alcohol, to dissipate the static charge and release the contamination from the substrate. The Bromothane™ solvents automatically do this magic trick and simply float the contamination away.

So when it comes to cleaning insoluble particulate, nobody beats Bromothane™.

• Carrier Fluids and Deposition •

There are a number of Bromothane™ customers which apply silicone lubricants onto parts using Bromothane™. Another large group of customers applies coatings made of a material called PTFE using a Bromothane™ dipping tank. In either case, when components are dipped into the bath the coating in smoothly and evenly applied to the surface on the part. Drips and runs are minimized because the Bromothane™ evaporates quickly as the part is removed from the bath. It's a fast, simple and highly effective process.

Here's our final answer on the many uses for Bromothane™: these cleaners are incredibly versatile. If you have demanding applications and are facing challenging environmental issues, Bromothane™ specialty fluids are your ideal choice.

Updated: Feb. 22, 2004
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