Cleaning

Cleaning with State of the Art technology

An absolute prerequisite for nitriding processes is clean surfaces. Machined details are more or less “dirty” when arriving for heat treatment. Oil, grease and emulsions have to be removed. Cooling liquids and oils used in machining often contain minerals. Minerals/salts cannot be removed with solvents based on hydrocarbons.

Hauck Heat Treatment in Anderstorp have since 2013 used the leading technology for cleaning prior to heat treatment; a multi-step cleaning system. The system consists of 3 main parts:

• Degreasing with solvent, i.e. a modified alcohol with excellent solubility of grease/oil
• Cleaning with water
• Distilling of used cleaning fluids; reuse of distilled fluids and collection of oil/grease in sump

After a few years of cleaning we note important benefits:

• Stable quality and excellent appearance in nitrided products
• No black spots due to remaining salts/minerals
• Substantial decrease in emulsions delivered for destruction thanks to distilling of cleaning fluids