Copper Alloy Cleaning

Tips for a Safer, Simpler Copper Alloy Cleaning Process

Copper Alloy Cleaning

Sometimes, cleaning and brightening copper alloys seems more like an art than a science. The slightest adjustment in your process or chemistries can create vastly different results. Switching out your mineral acid wash for an organic one can help you cut down on rinse cycles, improve the safety of your workers, and keep your waste treatment process in-house. Here’s how.

Challenges with cleaning copper alloys with mineral acids.

Mineral acids require multiple rinse steps. When you add steps to any process, the chance you’ll make an error increases. So does the risk of contamination. More rinse steps also make it more difficult to maintain a clean rinse liquid.

Mineral acids are hazardous. They’re unstable, give off harmful fumes, and can add dust to the air that is harmful to your workers. Chelators and phosphates pollute wastewater and require you to treat it off-site, increasing costs.

Mineral acids can go too far. Mineral acids are very potent. There is little room for error when cleaning and brightening copper alloys with mineral acids. Often, this results in over-etching and the need to reprocess your parts.

A safer, simpler solution is to use a methane sulfonic acid based product.

Organic acids are safer alternatives to mineral acids. They are excellent deoxidation agents, so replacing your mineral acid with an organic one won’t sacrifice quality. But organic acids are safer to handle and give off fewer fumes than mineral acids do. Organic acids are also more forgiving during application, which means you reduce the chances you’ll need to reprocess parts.

Our favorite methane sulfonic acid (MSA) based product is formulated by Hubbard-Hall. It’s capable of handling your toughest copper cleaning challenge. But also it’s odorless, easy to handle, and biodegradable, so it’s easy on your employees and the environment.

Hubbard-Hall’s MSA based product cleans and brightens copper in a single step, reducing the number of rinse cycles in your process. And since it requires no chelators or phosphates, you can treat your wastewater in-house, saving time and money. A company case study found that manufacturers could save up to $90,000 a year in waste disposal alone by switching to methane sulfonic acid.

Your copper cleaning and brightening process does not need to be complicated. Contact the experts at Seacole to discover how changing your chemistries could help you improve results, reduce costs, and create a safer work environment.


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IceMelt_Seacole

Solve These Ice Melt Challenges before Old Man Winter Arrives

IceMelt_Seacole

It’s November, and winter is just around the corner. Many property owners and snow removal companies are digging out shovels and plows and stockpiling salt. But 50-pound bags of ice melt are cumbersome to move and use. And if you’re a commercial plow company, a single 50-pound bag isn’t going to cut it! Property owners and snow removal companies alike need a better solution. Seacole’s got it. Here’s how our EZ-Spread Ice Melt solves your most common winter challenges.

Challenge 1: Big bags of ice melt are heavy, awkward, and prone to tearing.

Twenty- or 50-pound bags of salt or other ice melt products are really big and heavy. You have the option of dragging the bag around with you across your driveway, tearing it in the process. Or, you can try to pour your 50-pound bag into a more manageable bucket, which is messy and requires more equipment.

Seacole’s solution for heavy bags of ice melt.

We offer EZ-Spread Ice Melt in a 10-pound, lightweight, flexible plastic tube. That’s the same weight as the average housecat. The tube makes it easy to regulate the flow of the ice melt. Simply snip the end, hold the tube under your arms, and use your fingers to regulate the flow of ice melt. When you’re through, simply roll up the end and clip to store. No mess, no fuss, and no backbreaking heavy lifting.

Challenge 2: There’s a bottleneck in your bulk supply.

In other words, you have enough salt to handle Old Man Winter, but it’s all in the same place, leaving many entrances and walkways untreated. How do you distribute your salt so every entrance is safe?

Seacole’s solution for the bulk supply bottleneck.

You can buy our 10-pound plastic tubes of ice melt in four-tube boxes or in a pallet of 160 tubes. Simply put a box at each entrance. If you’ve invested in a pallet of ice melt, ask your building manager to drop off single bags at each location from your central supply each week.

Challenge 3: Salt spreaders are frustratingly difficult to use.

Shovel crews need a lot of salt throughout the day, but also need an easy way to apply it. Salt spreaders continuously clog and break. Plus, they are cumbersome to unload from your truck. Fixing and fighting a salt spreader all day can cause delays in your plow and shovel schedule.

Seacole’s solution, no salt spreader necessary.

The average pickup truck can easily hold a pallet of 160 10-pound tubes of EZ-Spread Ice Melt. All your crew needs to do is grab a 10-pound tube from the pallet, snip the end, and start applying, no salt spreader required. Our box of four 10-pound tubes is easy to keep in the cab of your plow truck, so you can apply salt to walkways without scooping inside the hopper of your spreader.

Don’t wait for the first snowstorm to order your EZ-Spread Ice Melt. Contact Seacole today to order the quantity that’s right for you and your business.


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