How to Get the Oil Stains out of Machine Parts?

The oil stains of machine parts are mainly formed by the unsaponifiable oil stained with dust and impurities. The long-term accumulation of oil stains will cause the performance of the parts to decline and affect the normal operation of the mechanical equipment. Here are three common methods of cleaning parts.

Common ones are kerosene, light diesel, gasoline, acetone, alcohol, and trichloroethylene. Using this dissolving method to remove oil, can dissolve all kinds of grease. Its advantages are that it does not need to be heated, is easy to use, does not damage the metal, and has a good cleaning effect.

The disadvantage is that most of them are flammable, high-cost, suitable for precision machine parts, and parts that are not suitable for cleaning with hot alkaline solutions, such as plastic, nylon, cowhide, felt parts, etc. But it should be noted that rubber parts cannot be cleaned with organic solvents.

The alkaline solution is an aqueous solution of alkali or alkaline salt. It uses the emulsification effect of emulsifiers on non-saponifiable oil to remove oil. 

Emulsification is a state in which a liquid is uniformly distributed in another liquid after forming very small fine particles. Adding an emulsifier to the alkaline solution to form an emulsion can reduce the surface tension and adhesion of the oil film, so that after the oil film is broken into very small oil droplets, it will not return to the metal surface, thereby achieving the effect of removing oil stains.

Commonly used emulsifiers are soap, water glass (sodium silicate), bone glue, gum, triethanolamine, synthetic detergent, and so on. It should be noted that different cleaning fluids should be used to clean parts of different materials. Alkaline solutions have varying degrees of corrosive effects on metals, especially strong corrosiveness to aluminum machining parts.

When cleaning with an alkaline solution, it is generally necessary to heat the solution to 80~90℃. After degreasing, rinse with hot water to remove residual lye on the surface to prevent parts from being corroded.

This is a chemically synthesized aqueous solution composed of water-based and metal cleaners. The metal cleaning agent is mainly composed of surfactants and has a strong decontamination ability. In addition, there are some auxiliary agents in the cleaning agent, which can improve or increase the comprehensive performance of the metal cleaning agent, such as anti-corrosion, rust prevention, and carbon deposit removal.

The principle is that the cleaning liquid prepared by the cleaning agent first wets the surface of the part, and then penetrates into the contact interface between the dirt and the part. This can make the dirt fall off and disperse from the surface of the part, and then dissolve in the cleaning fluid, or form an emulsion or suspension on the surface of the part fluid to achieve the purpose of cleaning the part.

If the machine parts have serious oil stains or carbon deposits, they can be cleaned with a steel wire brush, and a certain period of time must be soaked before cleaning. Cleaning can be divided into rough cleaning and fine cleaning. If the cleaning fluid after cleaning is not seriously polluted, it can remove the floating oil from the upper layer and use it again.

We need to choose a suitable cleaning solvent according to the specific characteristics of the machine parts to prevent the surface of the parts from being corroded by inappropriate solvents.

As a professional parts manufacturer, we are always committed to providing customers with quality products and services. We have specialized production equipment and have established a complete quality inspection system to strictly control the quality of our products. At the same time, our complete management team can provide thoughtful one-stop service and formulate effective solutions according to the diverse needs of customers. If you are interested in our machine parts, please contact us immediately!