| Author: IMS Company |
| Choosing
An Injection Mold Cleaner |
| |
| The good news – and the bad news – in mold cleaners
is that the range of options is wide. You can find a mold cleaner that meets
your needs, but you have to do a little homework to figure out which cleaner is
best for you. |
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| There are seven factors by which a mold
cleaner is judged: |
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Evaporation Rate
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Flammability
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Toxicity
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Cleaning Ability
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Environmental Friendliness
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Price
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Odor
|
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| No one cleaner does all these factors well. Choosing
a cleaner is a matter of determining which of those factors are most important,
and finding the cleaner that most closely matches the profile. Fast evaporating
cleaners are going to be either relatively high in toxicity or flammability.
The most aggressive cleaners are slower to evaporate, or more toxic or more
flammable (or all three). The less expensive a product is the more flammable or
more toxic it is likely to be. Environmentally friendly cleaners are typically
slow to evaporate. |
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| Much of the toxicity and flammability information is
on the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and on the can label. Unfortunately,
some suppliers hide as much information as they are able to. Beware of any mold
cleaner that claims Proprietary or Trade Secret information. They are only
hiding the information from you. Any competitor that wanted to reverse-engineer
the product could do so within hours. See A Brief Guide to Reading an MSDS,
later in the article. |
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| The general options are: |
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Hydrocarbons – Vary from non-evaporating to extremely fast evaporating, from
highly toxic to virtually non toxic. Check the MSDS for the specific
hydrocarbon and the flammable limits and exposure limits.
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Chlorinated Hydrocarbons (Trichloroethylene [TCE], Perchloroethane, Methylene
Chloride) – Fast evaporating, very good cleaners, but relatively toxic.
Trichloroethylene is a little less toxic, but slightly more expensive than
Perchloroethane or Methylene-Chloride-based.
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Biodegradeable citrus-based (d-limonene) – Non evaporating, very low toxicity,
extremely good cleaner, but flammable. Strong orange scent is pleasant to some
people but very unpleasant to others.
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Ester-based. Doesn’t clean as well as citrus, but has less odor and lower
flammability.
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Aqueous – usually a blend of citrus, with water and a surfactant.
Non-evaporating to slow evaporating, often clean well. Low cost. Might present
a rust hazard.
|
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| NOTES ON IMS MOLD CLEANERS |
| |
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White 2000 Mold Cleaner’s strengths are fast evaporation and non flammability.
It is an excellent cleaner, but has relatively high ventilation requirements.
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Red 2000 Mold Cleaner provides fast-evaporation with low toxicity. It is
extremely flammable. It is a good cleaner, but might evaporate too fast for
some applications.
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Economy Mold Cleaner is very similar to White 2000, but has a 5% charge of
acetone to let it clean some materials that White 2000 might not clean as well.
It has similar strengths and weaknesses as White 2000.
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Citrus Spray Mold Cleaner is d-limonene with a propane-type propellant.
D-limonene is made from citrus peels – mainly oranges. It is a great solvent,
but it doesn’t evaporate fully. Some people use citrus to dissolve particularly
tough deposits, then drive off the citrus with Red 2000. Citrus has a strong
orange scent, which some people find pleasant and some unpleasant. Though the
base chemical in Citrus is not flammable, the product is extremely flammable in
aerosol form because of the propane and because the spray pulls in enough air –
like a carburetor.
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Formula A-P Mold Cleaner. All-purpose cleaner. Not particularly hazardous in
any category. Relatively non-toxic. Not flammable (considered “combustible”,
which is a lesser flammability rating). Evaporates fully, but not quickly.
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Safeklean is citrus d-limonene with CO2 as the propellant for lower
flammability. Though less flammable than citrus, it is still plenty flammable.
|
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part
number |
name |
evaporation |
toxicity
(relative to other aerosol cleaners) |
flammability |
cleaning
ability |
environmental
friendliness
(relative to
other aerosol cleaners) |
price
(relative to
other aerosol cleaners) |
scent |
 |
118310 |
Red
2000 |
fastest |
favorable |
extremely
flammable |
good |
moderate |
best |
moderate
petroleum |
 |
118308 |
White
2000 |
very
fast |
least
favorable |
not
flammable |
better |
least
favorable |
better |
strong
chlorinated |
 |
119252 |
Economy |
very
fast |
least
favorable |
not
flammable |
better |
least
favorable |
better |
strong
chlorinated |
 |
118313 |
Formula
A-P |
slow but
complete |
favorable |
combustible
(but not flammable) |
good |
moderate |
second
best |
mild
petroleum |
 |
111598 |
Citrus |
slow and
leaves residue |
most
favorable |
highly
flammable |
best |
favorable |
good |
strong
orange |
 |
126674 |
Safeklean |
slow and
leaves residue |
most
favorable |
moderately
flammable |
best |
most
favorable |
good |
strong
orange |
|
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| GENERAL NOTES ON AEROSOLS |
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Aerosols were developed mainly during WW II for spraying insecticides and
defoliants. After the war, aerosol people looked for things to put into an
aerosol can. Some were great – like mold release. Some were not – like spray
“cheez”.
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Aerosols consist of a material you want to spray, plus a propellant to push it
out of the can, plus a solvent to dissolve the material into the propellant. In
the case of a mold cleaner, the deposited material and the solvent are the same
material.
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For many years, the safest aerosols used heavily chlorinated propellants and
solvents. They were completely non-flammable, evaporated extremely quickly and
were great solvents. It became evident in the 1970s that they were attacking
the earth’s atmosphere, so they have been gradually phased out. The
replacements have not been as good as the originals. They are now either
flammable, toxic or slow evaporating.
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The good news is that the valves and tips used in aerosols are getting better
all the time. They look very simple, but a great deal of engineering has gone
into them. A slight change in passage size or angle can make a great difference
in spray behavior.
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SAFETY NOTE: Aerosols cans have pressure relief devices in them in case of
fire. If high heat causes a can to become over-pressurized, first the top fold
straightens out, then the concave bottom bulges out then the can opens along
the seam – to allow a relatively controlled release of pressure rather than a
violent explosion.
|
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| The advantages of aerosols are: |
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Clean – no mess, no pouring
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Easy to deposit the exact amount you need
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Exact desired spray pattern can be obtained
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Little or no wiping
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No scratching the mold
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Safety – a ruptured can might release a pound of material. A ruptured drum
could release 400 pounds of material.
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In the case of a mold release, the vast majority of each droplet evaporates –
leaving an extremely thin film on the mold. With bulks, the entire droplet gets
deposited.
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Does not get onto hands
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No rags needed
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No spray equipment needed
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| The disadvantages of aerosols are: |
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Safety – the solvents and propellants usually have some flammability or
toxicity issues
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Environmental –
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VOCs – volatile organic compounds (carbon compounds that evaporate and
contribute to ground-level ozone)
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Once the solvent and propellant are out of the can, they are gone forever
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Ozone depletion
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Cost
|
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| Aerosol Tanks |
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| Really only make sense for automated application. Not
a bad buy for manual application of mold cleaner, but not highly recommended. |
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| Bulks |
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Advantage is cost
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Disadvantages
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Higher labor costs
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Cost of equipment
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Less flexible application
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Large spills more likely
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| A FEW SIMPLIFIED NOTES ON READING AN MSDS: |
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Toxicity shows up on an MSDS as Exposure Limits – usually reported in
parts per million (PPM). That means how many parts per million you can have in
the air without creating a hazard. The more toxic the substance is the lower
the number is. The number used most often is the OSHA PEL (TWA); that is the US
Government’s Permissible Exposure Limit (8-hour Time Weighted Average).
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Flammability can show up under three different ratings
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Flashpoint – a sample is put into a cup in the presence of a sparking
mechanism. The material is heated until it reaches the point where the spark
will ignite it. The more flammable a material is, the lower the flashpoint is.
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Flammable limits – The lowest and highest amount of material that can be
in the air for flame to occur. If there is too little or too much material in
the air, it won’t burn. It’s like the carburetor on a car – it can’t be too
lean or too rich. On the lean side, that’s called the lower flammable limit. On
the rich side, it’s called the upper flammable limit. A product is highly
flammable if the low limit is low, if the high limit is high or if the range
between them is wide.
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Aerosol flammability ratings. Aerosol flammability is rated by spraying
the product over a small flame. Flammability is determined by how far the flame
projects and whether it burns back to the nozzle. Ironically, some products
become more flammable as an aerosol because the mist contains enough air to
fall under the upper limit; other products become less flammable as sprayed
because they go over the upper limit.
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Sometimes, a product will pass this test because the mixture is too rich as
sprayed, but once it is out of the can and disperses into the air, it can fall
back under the high limit and cause a fire.
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| Products related to this article: |
Mold Cleaner (Aerosol Cans) |
|
Mold Cleaner (Aerosol Tanks) |
|
Mold Cleaner (Bulk Containers) |