cleaning Lexan parts
cleaning Lexan parts
(OP)
We have a few thousand devices out in the field with bodies made with Lexan. At a couple of large installations we found the client with metal housings around the devices - because "they were getting hit". Comes out they have bee routinely spraying with cleansers of various types, effectively dissolving the devices. It is an optical application, environment is dust and perhaps very thin oil from machinery running in proximity: whats a good solution for those clients compelled to clean?






RE: cleaning Lexan parts
ABS?
SAN?
Polysulfone?
Clear silicone boots?
NASCAR/ dirtbike "tear-offs"?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: cleaning Lexan parts
RE: cleaning Lexan parts
Polycarbonate is very sensitive to solvent stress cracking with chlorinated and aromatic hydrocarbons. Most lubricating oils have some aromatics present. Cleaning chemicals can often also contain solvents that attack polycarbonate. GE should be able to provide a list of suitable cleaning agents, but this won't undo damage done by lubricating oil.
Regards
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RE: cleaning Lexan parts
Instructive experiment: Get a sheet of thin PC, cut it into strips say 25mm x 150mm. Remove the protective film.
Take a strip and bend it with your hands. With some difficulty, you can fold it back on itself without it breaking or cracking. Amazing stuff.
Take a similar strip and dip it in some solvent, as briefly as you can. Wipe it off. Try the same test. It will snap like styrene. Amazing, in a different way.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: cleaning Lexan parts
The dominant issue is dust. The solution is vacuuming but there is an innate desire to wipe something up. I was thinking water/vinegar, but this is not a real winner. Put a surface charge on the Lexan? maybe there is no real solution.
RE: cleaning Lexan parts
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: cleaning Lexan parts
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