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Ultrasonic cleaning fluid · Australia

Ultrasonic cleaning fluid,
chosen by the soil and the metal.

There is no one fluid that cleans everything. What strips baked carbon off a cast-iron head will pit an aluminium cooler core, and what is safe on aluminium will not touch stoved enamel. Tell us the part and what is on it and we will name the fluid, the dose and the temperature to run it at.

This is drum and 20 litre chemistry for workshop and plant tanks. If you are after a 500 ml bottle for jewellery or spectacles, a tool shop will look after you better than we will.

By soil

Start from what is on the part.

Oils, greases and general workshop grime

FX Degreaser
5–15% v/v, 45–65 °C

Engine sludge, fuel residue and carbon on ferrous parts

Desludge
10–20% v/v, 40–60 °C

Grease, rust, scale, carbon and paint in one bath — ferrous only

MetalTek 100
10–30% v/v, 60–80 °C

Rust, heat scale and oxide

Descale
2.5–10% v/v, ambient to 50 °C

Red dirt, rust and scale out of cooler cores, without acid

CoreKleen HX
20% with CoreKleen Plus at 1–2%, 50–60 °C

Paint and baked carbon off aluminium and zinc

Alloy System
10% of the mixed system, 40–70 °C

Heavy oil out of oil coolers

SolvoKleen
Neat, ambient — no heating

Mineral ash left after DPF carbon cleaning

RegeniK
Neat, ambient to 50 °C, 10–20 min

Precision, mixed-metal and aerospace duties

Brulin AquaVantage
3–30% v/v by grade, 49–82 °C

Not sure which line it falls under? The selector asks a few questions and narrows it, or start from the part on the applications page.

Why it is different

What a tank fluid has to do that a bottle of cleaner does not.

It must not foam

Foam kills cavitation. The imploding bubbles are what clean the part, and a head of foam damps the field before it ever reaches the work. Workshop and household detergents are built to foam, because foam is what people read as cleaning. Tank chemistry is built not to.

It has to hold together hot

Most of these run between 40 and 80 °C for hours at a time. A fluid that separates, drops out or gasses off at temperature is a fluid you re-dose every shift, and a bath you cannot hold to a process.

It has to suit the metal

A pH 14 alkaline bath is one-pass restoration on steel and cast iron. The same bath takes the surface off aluminium, zinc and brass. Every product carries its material cautions up front, so you read them here rather than find them in the tank.

Dose and packs

Working out how much you need.

Dose is a percentage of tank volume. A 100 litre tank at 10% takes ten litres of concentrate and ninety of water; the same tank at 25% takes twenty-five. Measure the tank first, take the dose off the data sheet, then order the pack that covers a make-up plus a top-up.

Supplied in 10 and 20 litre packs and 200 litre drums, with 1,000 litre IBCs on the larger lines. Prices are ex GST and are on each product page. Some of the acids and solvents are dangerous goods for transport and storage — that is set out on the supply and safety page.

Questions

What people ask before they order.

What fluid do I put in an ultrasonic cleaner?
For workshop parts, an aqueous concentrate diluted into the tank — not a ready-to-use spray, and not a solvent unless the soil calls for one. Which concentrate depends on the soil and the metal: a degreaser for oils, an alkaline bath for carbon and paint on steel, an acid or chelating descaler for rust and scale, a near-neutral chemistry where the metal will take neither. The selector narrows it down.
Can I use dish soap or Simple Green in an ultrasonic tank?
It will lift light oil, and plenty of people do it. Three things go wrong once you are running parts all day. It foams, and foam damps the cavitation doing the work. It carries no corrosion inhibitor, so ferrous parts flash-rust coming out of the rinse. And it has no published dose or temperature, so nothing about the result repeats from one batch to the next. For one carburettor it is fine. For a bench of parts a day it costs more in rework than the chemistry costs.
How much fluid does a 100 litre tank take?
At 10% v/v, ten litres of concentrate to ninety of water. At 25%, twenty-five to seventy-five. The dose is set by the data sheet for the product, not by the tank — work out the tank volume first, then read the dose off the sheet.
What temperature should the fluid run at?
Between about 40 and 80 °C for most of the range, and every product has its own band. Hotter is not always better: as the liquid gets closer to boiling the cavitation falls away, and some chemistries come apart above their ceiling. The sheet gives the band and the typical working figure.
How long does a bath last?
Longer than most people expect if it is filtered and topped up. Bath life is set by soil loading, not by the calendar. Check strength by titration weekly and top back up to dose rather than dumping and re-making.
Every dose and temperature on this page is the figure from the current technical data sheet for the product named. Where a page and a sheet disagree, the sheet governs.

What is on the parts?

Trials run on parts carrying the real soil. The trial pairs machine and chemistry against it — documented and repeatable, before you commit to a drum.

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