Editorial Features for November 2004
Although 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, nearly all of it is contaminated with salt and therefore inappropriate for most uses.
30 November, 2004
In part I of this column, I showed how common open-top vapor degreasers can fail if used with solvent blends. The reason is the vapor produced from most binary solvent blends becomes enriched in the most volatile of the two components. If that vapor escapes from the degreaser via any means, the bath becomes depleted of that most volatile component and the composition becomes a pure component that is the least volatile.
12 November, 2004
It is very unlikely that many newly developed cleaning solvents will be introduced in the coming years. The reasons include: the costs are too great; the expected return is too small; and limitations of chemistry make the chance of success in providing a perfect solvent too low. Other than those reasons, we’ll all be developing new solvents. Yet that doesn’t mean those doing solvent cleaning will have to make due with currently available and occasionally imperfect offerings.
09 November, 2004
The efficacy, convenience, and cost effectiveness of vapor corrosion inhibiting (VCI) packaging products have made their application for rust control almost universal in automotive, machine tools, aerospace, electronics, power generation, and the military. As with all industrial chemical products, however, the increased usage of VCI products has also raised significant scientific interest as to their health and safety.
02 November, 2004
The use of volatile corrosion inhibitors (VCIs) within the metal finishing industry presents two generally unrecognized health and performance problems. VCIs have been used to prevent corrosion since World War II yet have had little risk analysis. Although many of the benefits of VCIs have been published, VCIs’ darker side is only now becoming known.
02 November, 2004